Robin's Adventure
by LordGodsServant
Summary: Crossover with Teen Titans.  Robin from Teen Titans wakes up to find himself in a new world.  Now he has to deal with a new team and trying to fight the villainous Board of the Light.  And he wants to get home . . .quick.  Third story uploaded.
1. Something Amiss

_Hey, my third story posted. This story was partially inspired by the Avatar fanfiction "Distorted Reality" a really good fic you should try out. I hope this is as good as some of the other fictions out there._

Robin woke up early in the morning as was usual. Richard Grayson, usually called "Dick" for short by those who knew his name, sat on the side of his bed, rubbing sleep from his eyes. Then he froze as he realized something, _his mask wasn't on_. He pulled his hands away and looked at his body; he wasn't in his costume either. He was up on his feet and in a ready stance in an instant, suspecting some trick of Slade's. He scanned the room he was in; it looked just like his old room back at Wayne Manor. Carefully, he crept to the door and opened it. He made his way to the grandfather clock which should hold the entrance to the Batcave.

He turned the clock hands to 10:47 and watched as it swung open. He stalked in and looked around, it was the Batcave sure enough, but just to be sure he walked over to the Bat-computer and turned it on. As it was booting up he looked for his costume, he found one that looked like his but with some color variation, it had black pants and gloves instead of his normal green. He quickly put it one and felt better to be back in his costume even if it was a bit different. He went back to the Bat-Computer and began combing the files for any sign of fraud, maybe this was some twisted joke of Slade, or worse, the Joker. He was very nervous and concentrated trying to find out what happened to transport him back to the Batcave.

"Up a bit early, aren't we Dick?"

Robin, without thinking, swung his fist around and sucker punched the person standing behind him in the gut. As the person doubled over in pain, he jumped over him like they where playing leap-frog and dragged the person with him, throwing him over his shoulders. The person slammed into the wall and Robin pounced on him, then the person grabbed his arms and in an expert move, swung him around and pinned him face first to the wall. As he struggled he heard a voice that made him freeze with shock.

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT DICK!" shouted Batman.

_ Well I hope that got you interested, I think you can guess were Robin is given where this fic is posted, drop a review please if you've got the time._

_Sincerely, LordGodsServant_


	2. A Whole New World

_Got encouraged by 2 reviews on the check up. I hope you're satisfied with this._

* * *

Batman held Robin against the wall as Robin shouted "how did I get back here Bruce?"

"What are you talking about, I made you go to bed early last night, I even saw you go to bed!"

"No, last night I went to bed at Titans Tower and now I wake up here back at Wayne Manor. Did you sedate me and drag me back here?"

"Titans Tower, where's that?"

Robin stopped struggling and then said in a voice showing he was trying to calm down "I'm not going to attack you anymore Bruce, so could you let me talk to you face to face?"

After a moment Bruce released him and as Robin turned to face him he said "now explain yourself, what are you talking about?"

Robin was silent for a few seconds, he'd almost forgotten how he used to get annoyed at taking orders from Bruce. But, smarting off wasn't going to get him anywhere here so he replied "last night I went to bed at Titans Tower, that's the headquarters of the Teen Titans the team I lead, and to my surprise I wake up here in Wayne Manor."

"You don't remember living in Wayne Manor?"

"Of course I've lived here, just not in several years."

Batman frowned, lost in thought as he looked at him. Suddenly he said "What's affirmation code #32?"

"Affirmation what?"

"Affirmation code #32, what is it?"

"How am I supposed to know that?"

Batman grimaced "as I suspected, you're not Robin, at least not the Robin I know."

"How do you know that?" asked Robin curiously, his arms crossed and eyebrows raised.

"Firstly, because you don't know the code and sec-"

"What if someone erased it from my memories, that could mean I was your Robin?"

"SECONDLY!" Batman restarted with an annoyed look on his face "the Robin I know isn't so disrespectful."

Both heroes eyed each other for a bit, Robin in annoyance, and Batman sizing up this new person.

"There are many explanations" Batman finally said. "Perhaps to name a few someone forced you to forget and created false memories, or perhaps you are from an alternate universe."

"My memories aren't fake!" shouted Robin, he refused to believe that Beast Boy, Raven, Cyborg, and most importantly, Starfire, had been figments of his imagination.

"Maybe" Batman said "but until we know more I suggest we keep quiet about this."

He turned to the Bat-Computer and brought up a picture of the Hall of Justice.

"This situation is happening at a very inconvenient time."

"How so?"

"You and three other sidekicks-"

"I'm not your sidekick!"

"Very well, the former Robin and three other sidekicks were set to meet at the Hall of Justice to become junior members of the Justice League. I am expected to be there even without you."

"So let's go, I can go through procedure."

"I'm not so certain that's a good idea, you might-" he stopped as a red flashing light on the Bat-Computer lit up.

He started towards the light but Robin beat him to it.

"Titans tro-" he began but appeared to catch himself and instead said "it's Mr. Freeze."

He then went to the Batmobile but was halted by Batman's voice "I'll be watching you, I don't know if you're telling the truth or not so you'll have to prove yourself, but just be warned. If I see you doing anything suspicious, I will stop you."

Robin looked slowly back at his mentor and said "be sure that I'll reciprocate" and then he hopped into the vehicle. Batman narrowed his eyes, definitely not the boy he'd sent to bed yesterday. He then held up a hair he'd taken from Robin's head while holding him against the wall and got a hair out of his costume cabinet. Going up to the Bat-Computer he put them in separate compartments and said "compare genetic structure."

A second late the computer said "match found, genetic difference equals 0%." Batman's eyes narrowed even further, something suspicious was definitely going on here.

"Batman hurry! We need to go."

Batman jumped into the Batmobile and they sped off.

* * *

_Well I hope you liked that, drop a review if you have time. What I have planned right now is showing how much the events can differ since this Robin is so much more leader-like and serious than Young Justice Robin. I have a few long-range ideas._

_Sincerely, LordGodsServant_

* * *

_Well, that's really embarrassing, I accidentally posted one of my other fics for chapter 2, really sorry about that, my first misspost. This is the real thing._

_Sincerely, an embarrassed LordGodsServant_


	3. Independence Day Part 1

_Here's a nice long section, hope you enjoy it._

* * *

In the Gotham City park it was a nice calm day. Many people were having picnics, enjoying a simple day. But all the adults knew that days rarely went well in Gotham and it almost always turned into a nightmare. A father who was having a grill out with two of his kids looked up as he heard screams. He saw people running and what looked like a white beam arcing over them. When it cleared someone they were frozen in large chunks of ice. Looking up to the top of small ledge right next to him he saw ice form and saw one of the villains from Batman's Rogues Gallery stand up to face him and his children. The man had a dark mechanized suit on with a glass dome over his head. His face was a bluish color one normally connects with being too cold, however he looked quite comfortable. He was toting a white gun which he leveled at the family, the man gathered his children behind him, knowing it would be useless to run.

"Enjoying family time?" the villain known as Mr. Freeze asked.

He pulled back on a trigger but before the beam came out two boomerang type objects came out of nowhere and hit it away. The beam left the family unharmed but carved a strip of ice in the ground a few feet away. The man took his children and ran as Mr. Freeze's attention shifted.

"Ah, Batman, I was wondering when-" he turned to face who he thought would be Batman but instead found a boy in a red and black costume facing him.

"Oh, Boy Wonder, the Bat delegated this task to you. Frankly I'm underwhelmed and insulted the Bat thinks me so weak that he sends his lapdog to take me in."

Something Mr. Freeze had said seemed to strike a nerve, Robin's face transformed into a mask of rage. He threw three Birdarangs at Freeze and then charged while taking something out of his belt. Mr. Freeze put up one of his gloved hands to ward off the three missiles and when the last one had pinged off he leveled his gun at, nothing.

Hearing something expanding behind him he turned just in time for Robin's fist to hit his dome right in the face portion. It shattered and the fist connected with his face right at eye level. Freeze fell to the ground, knocked out cold so to speak. Robin quickly grabbed his gun and switched it off.

Just then Batman landed and said in an incredulous voice "why so quick off the mark?"

Robin looked up, "what, did your Robin waste time acting like a kid, I can't afford that. This work is far too dangerous for me to treat it like a joke or a game."

"You further set yourself apart from my Robin."

"If he's like what you imply him to be I'll take that as a compliment."

Robin looked questioningly at Batman, "so, did I prove myself?"

"Not fully, you've made a start, but not fully yet."

Robin looked a bit annoyed at having only accomplished that much, Batman realized he must hate a job left incomplete so he tried to placate him, "trust is something built over time, it can be torn down-"

"Easily" Robin finished, the annoyed look had disappeared and had been replace by a thoughtful look, as if he was remembering something connected to what they had just said.

"Look, if we're supposed to be at this Graduation Ceremony thing we better get moving" Robin said reasonably and Batman nodded. They both got into the Batmobile and it started off down the street, part of the way down it sprouted wings and a rocket and took off as the Batplane. Back in the park, Commishioner Gordon supervised the cleanup of Mr. Freezes mess and the carting of Mr. Freeze off to Arkham Asylum. He was just glad he didn't get the job of catching the criminals himself.

* * *

As they flew to the Hall of Justice Robin was lost in thought. He was remembering the time that he had lost his team's faith after becoming Red X. He had seen afterwards that it would've gone a lot smoother if he had just trusted his friends, he might have even caught Slade. After he had been discovered he had made a full apology to his team, they had forgiven him but it had taken several missions for them to truly get comfortable back under his leadership.

He had had to deal with that lapse of judgment coming back to haunt him with the new Red X. However, it wasn't as bad as he had thought it would be, Red X had even helped them in the battle against the Brotherhood of Evil, but after the battle had gone AWOL and hadn't been seen or heard from since. However that also meant that as far as the Titans could tell he hadn't committed any crimes so far.

He after that had tried to trust his teammates a lot more, but he had failed when it came to Slade. He hadn't told them when he was going after Slade personally, he had justified it to himself by saying they had to deal with the Chronoton Detonator, but it couldn't wipe away the fact that he hadn't even dropped them a message. He'd nearly had them pay with their lives but had figured out a way to finally beat Slade at his own game.

Slade, if there was a Joker to Batman situation for him it was Slade. Thankfully Slade wasn't nearly as insane as the Joker though that could also prove to be a great danger in many cases as well. While the Joker was a danger to all who were near him, Slade was in a way, far more dangerous. The Joker simply loved to kill, Slade was far more organized in his work and could reach a far larger scale than the Joker could ever dream of. He also seemed to have an obsession with a protégé, first him, then Terra. He doubted Slade could have ever been married or have kids so maybe he was trying to substitute.

"We'll be arriving shortly" came the voice of Batman, startling Robin out of his reverie. Batman was looking at Robin with a look of interest on his face.

"Tell me, am I any different than the Batman you knew?"

Robin's face screwed up, as if he was thinking hard, then he said "not that I can tell, but in all fairness, I haven't been here that long. I still don't know how I got here."

"Tell me about your team."

Robin looked a bit unwilling so Batman finished the sentence with a very reluctant "please." Robin looked shocked, interested, then grateful and he began "well, I'm the leader, and I have four teammates. I moved out from Gotham a few years ago after a falling out with y-, with my Batman. I moved to Jump City, but on the first day I was fortunate enough to meet up with the people who would become my best friends and loyal teammates. Their names are Beast Boy, Cyborg, Raven, and Starfire."

"I've heard of the first two, but not of the last two."

"Really! Where are they?"

"Beast Boy I last heard is still working on the Doom Patrol. And Cyborg lives in Jump City, our Jump City, he hasn't become part of the Justice League even though we forwarded an invitation to him."

"Maybe I can go see them."

"Consider this; they only know you as my sideki-, protégé. They wouldn't recognize you as someone they knew."

Robin looked crestfallen, he saw the logic of the suggestion, that didn't mean he had to like it.

"Please continue, what is your team like and what exploits has your team endured."

"Since you know about Beast Boy and Cyborg, and if you're anything like the Batman I know you keep detailed files on anyone of note you come into contact with, I'll tell you about Raven and Starfire. Raven is unique. She comes from what you might call a pocket dimension/universe called Azarath. Her mother was a normal human named Arella, but her father was the Demon Trigon the Terrible. She has powers from this ancestry, she's a good friend, one of the best I've ever had. Starfire, she's the princess of an alien world called Tamaran. She was sold to Gordanians but broke out and flew to Earth. She's a bit naïve but is one of the best people I know. We've had highs and lows, we've even saved the world a couple times, well, once for sure."

"Why don't you tell me about this time?"

Robin thought for a moment, then decided that no harm could come of sharing the information.

"Raven's father intended to use Raven as his portal to Earth. He used Slade, a villain who'd apparently died some months earlier, as his undead minion, promising him mortal flesh back if he'd serve him. After several encounters, Raven, who'd always been secretive, told us about a prophecy made about her and a certain day when she was apparently destined to become Trigon's portal to Earth. Finally on the day in question, Slade attacked Titan's Tower with a never ending army of fire minions. We pulled out all the stops our individual team had but it was too much. But before we were killed Raven submitted to her father to save us. We followed her and tried to convince her to stop but she wouldn't. Trigon was transported to Earth, and he made into what some might call Hell. He turned everyone except my team and I into stone. Raven, before she left, had given us some of her power, we tried to attack Trigon with it but it wasn't enough. But then Slade, who'd been betrayed by Trigon offered to make an alliance with us. We split into two teams, my three teammates stayed behind to distract Trigon and Slade and I left to find Raven. After a hard journey and splitting up with Slade I found her but she was like a little girl. I brought her back to the surface and the Titans and Slade made one final attempt to get rid of Trigon, we managed to hurt him but he still beat us. Raven then decided to finally step out of her father's shadow and proved to be more powerful than he was. She reversed all of the things he'd done to the Earth and we had a celebration that night."

"What about Slade?"

"He escaped and went underground, we haven't heard from him since."

Batman looked impressed, he could tell that this Robin was even more experienced than the one he knew and trained. This Robin knew the true stress of being responsible for others and was far more committed to his job. Maybe, if he ever got his Robin back he could have this Robin give him a few pointers. This also brought up the point of how thorough his memories were, they were extremely thorough which seemed to debunk the fake memories theory. He'd have to look into it later.

"I'm impressed, you appear to be far more skilled at your job than my Robin."

Robin blinked "did you just compliment me?"

"Yes?"

"Sorry, it's just that I'm not used to hearing compliments from yo-, from my Batman."

"Hmmmm" said Batman thoughtfully, then he said "we've arrived."

They had landed in front of the Hall of Justice. A crowd of spectators had gathered to see the superheroes and their sidekicks. Robin saw four other people in costumes, two who're obviously Green Arrow and Speedy, and two others one of which he recognized as Aquaman. The other he didn't recognize though, he was a dark-skinned, tall boy with a buzz-cut hairdo and tattoos rapping around his arms. By the way he stuck close to Aquaman he felt it was safe to say that he was this world's version of Aqualad. It was, a new perspective to say the least, one that unsettled Robin greatly because it was the most prominent representation that he wasn't at home here, he was an unwelcome guest.

Batman and Robin both walked up to the group of heroes. Speedy and Aqualad gave Robin greetings which he politely returned; he knew the drill, stay low. If other people weren't supposed to know he wasn't the Robin they knew than he'd best not talk to anyone if he could help it.

Robin really didn't know what to think about this whole Justice League introduction thing, he hadn't really paid that much attention to the League back home, he respected them but felt that hey babied young heroes too much. Many of the Teen Titans came from sidekicks who had rightly felt that they were being treated as second class heroes. He supposed this opportunity would be a chance to get some new insight onto the Justice League.

He heard a zooming sound and saw Flash and Kid Flash run up to the group. Kid Flash counted the people present, then gave a groan of exasperation, "aw man, I knew we'd be the last ones here."

This brought a smile to Robin's face; at least some things were the same.

* * *

The eight heroes walked along the path up into the Hall of Justice. On the way there Robin heard a general drone of the civilians. He also listened to some banter by the heroes.

"Ready to see the inner sanctum?"

"Born ready!"

Have all three of the sidekicks ever been in the same place at once bef-?"

"DON'T, call us sidekicks, not after today!"

"Sorry, first time at the Hall, I'm a little overwhelmed."

"_Your overwhelmed, Freeze was underwhelmed, why isn't anyone ever just whelmed?"_ The thought flashed across Robin's mind and he stopped abruptly, the thought didn't feel like his own. Batman had stopped and was looking at him as they fell behind the others, "something wrong Robin?"

Robin shook his head, he would deal with it later, "no, quick, let's catch up."

They caught up in the entrance hall. A door on the other side opened and Robin saw Red Tornado and the Martian Manhunter coming through it. With their backs to the still considerable crowd they face them. The Manhunter addressed the young heroes "Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Speedy, welcome."

He led them through the doors into a (thankfully) empty room.

"You now have access to the gym, our fully stocked galley, and of course our library."

The Flash turned around and said with outstretched arms to the four teenagers "make yourselves at home."

Only too willing to do just that Robin sat down in one of the chairs, Speedy however stayed standing as the others sat as well. From what Robin could see he didn't look pleased.

He quick looked back to see if the older heroes were aware of their protégé's feelings, but they were all listening to Batman.

"We'll need a quick debrief to discuss the coincidence of four ice villains attacking on the same day." He looked at the sidekicks, "we shouldn't be long."

They all turned to the next door and out popped a scanner. It scanned them all in turn, affirming their legitimacy.

"That's it! You promised us a real look inside, not a glorified backstage pass!"

Speedy was standing in front of the older heroes and he looked mad.

"It's a first step, you've been granted access few others get" Aquaman said in a placating voice.

"Oh really!" said Speedy and gestured to a window Robin hadn't noticed before filled with civilians with cameras.

"Who cares which side of the glass we're on?"

Green Arrow stepped forward and said in an attempt to calm his protégé, "Roy, you just need to be patient."

"What I need, is respect!"

He turned to the other teens. "They're treating us like kids, worse, like sidekicks! We deserve better than this!"

Robin and the other sidekicks just looked at him blankly, Robin because he didn't really care much about this procedure at all. However he couldn't deny that he felt a bit resentful at having been forced back under Batman's wing.

"You're kidding, right? You're playing their game? Why, because you think they play fair? Today was supposed to be _the day_! Step one in becoming full fledged members of the League!"

Kid Flash responded this time "well sure, but I thought step one was a tour of the HQ?"

"Except that the hall isn't the League's real HQ, I bet they never told you it's just a false front for tourists and a pit stop for catching Zeta-Beam teleporter tubes to the real HQ, an orbiting satellite called the Watchtower!"

Robin already knew this so he didn't say anything or betray any emotion. But he saw Batman look at Arrow with an extremely annoyed look on his face.

"I know but I thought maybe we could make an exception?"

Batman's look didn't change.

"Or not."

Aquaman stepped forward, trying to defuse the situation, "you're not helping your case son, stand down or-"

"Or what, you'll send me to my room? And I'm not your son, I'm not even his!" Speedy said while gesturing to Green Arrow.

"I thought I was his partner, but not anymore." With that he grabbed his hat and threw it down onto the ground. He then walked out of the hall. As he passed by the three other teens he said in a snide, contemptuous voice "I guess their right about you three, you're not ready." With that he left.

Almost as soon as he left the large TV screen flickered on to reveal Superman.

"Superman to Justice League, there's been an explosion at Project Cadmus, it's on fire."

Batman answered "I've had my suspicions about Cadmus for awhile now, this may present a good opportunity to-"

"Justice League!"

A mini screen popped up in front of Superman presenting a man in a formal suit with a top hat on. "The sorcerer Wotan is using the Amulet of Aten to blot out the sun, requesting full League response."

"Superman?"

"It's a small fire, the local authorities have it under control."

"Then Cadmus can wait, all Leaguers rendezvous at Zatara's coordinates, Batman out."

The three teens including Robin had got up in preparation to leave but Batman said, while looking pointedly at Robin "stay put."

Robin felt his eyebrows raise in disbelief "What! Why?"

"This is a League mission."

"You're not trained-"

"Since when?" asked Kid Flash incredulously.

"I meant you're not trained to work with this team."

"There will be other missions, when you're ready."

"But for now", again Batman looked extremely pointedly at Robin "stay put."

They all left quickly to get the mission underway. Before they left Robin heard Green Arrow say to Martian Manhunter "glad you didn't bring you-know-who?"

"Indeed."

Red Tornado gave them one final look before he too left.

Kid Flash looked extremely annoyed "when we're ready? How are we ever supposed to be ready when they treat us like, like, like sidekicks?"

"My mentor, my king, I thought he trusted me?"

"Trust, hah, they don't even trust us with the basics, they've got a secret orbiting satellite in space!"

"What else aren't they telling us?"

The two fell silent, and then Aqualad said "what is Project Cadmus?"

Robin saw he was looking at him. He'd just been mulling over how annoyed he was at Batman even here for doing the exact thing that had driven him away in the first place, treating him like a sidekick. Suddenly he had an idea, "I don't know, but I can find out."

He went and hooked up his hacking tool the computer, and had hacked the mainframe within 10 seconds.

"Science lab here in DC, that's all there is. But if Batman's suspicious, maybe we should investigate."

"Solve their case before they do, it would be poetic justice, but they said stay put."

"For the blotting out the sun mission."

"Wait, are you going to Cadmus, because if you are, then I am."

Robin smiled, definitely the same old Wally West.

"Just like that, we're a team on a mission?"

"I didn't come to be treated like a sidekick."

Aqualad smiled, and all three headed to Cadmus.

* * *

_Hope you enjoy this nice long one, the main differences lie in Robin's changes of dialogue to showcase a different personality. Later on, those who know him will notice what seems to them to be an overnight change. _

_Sincerely, LordGodsServant._


	4. Independence Day Part 2

_Hi, hope you liked the last chapter, I'll try to make this one just as long. Gonna try to get to some action in this chapter._

* * *

At Project Cadmus two scientists were waving for help from the burning building. They were at the top floor, and were shouting at the top of their lungs.

"HELP!"

"GET US DOWN!"

The fire chief had a megaphone and was trying to calm the two scared men.

"STAY PUT, WE WILL GET YOU DOWN!"

As if to mock him, somewhere in the building behind the men an explosion occurred. It was small when you think about it, but the wave of air coming from it pushed the scientists over the edge of the windows. They fell.

Then out of the blue a flash of red and yellow came and ran up the wall. It grabbed the scientists and put them on the top of the building. The person, who just happened to be Kid Flash, had to stop if only for a second to deposit the scientists and in that second he lost grip. He began sliding down the wall and no matter how fast he ran he couldn't gain feet. He just barely managed to grab the edge of the window to stop himself from falling to his death.

Robin and Aqualad had just arrived on the next block down.

"Does he always have to run ahead?" Aqualad asked incredulously.

"He has a notorious short patience."

"We need a plan."

"I agree, I'll get up there with my grapple and held Kid, you use your water powers to help the scientists."

"Good plan, let's go."

The two took off. Robin was faster so he got there quicker. He climbed the fire engine and shot off his grapple. Once he was in the building he helped Kid Flash up and in. Looking down he saw Aqualad draw what looked like two sword hilts. They glowed and the water from the hose swirled around him as his tattoos glowed as well. He ascended on a funnel of water and helped the scientists back to the ground.

"_Okay, definitely some new powers for a new Aqualad._"

Once Aqualad was inside Robin gave them instructions.

"Aqualad, you look through those file cabinets there for anything suspicious, start with anything related to the League and work down from there. Kid Flash, scout through the building using your super-speed and see if anyone is left that we can save."

Aqualad nodded and went to work, however, Kid Flash looked annoyed at him giving orders.

"Who died and made you leader?"

Robin simply gave him a flat stare and after a moment he held up his hands and backed off mumbling "okay, okay, I'm going. Sheesh, you got the Bat-Glare down pat."

When Robin had turned away he smiled, he loved pulling that, even if it was only effective with some, he had learned the Bat-Glare from Batman obviously and it had cowed many criminals and impertinent idiots.

He turned back to begin hacking the mainframe, he wasn't as good as Cyborg but next to him he was the best on his team. He had been taught by Batman after all.

But before he could start he felt something. Not physically, but in his mind. He was sure he wouldn't have felt it except for one thing; he was used to having things touch him telepathically or at least have a presence in his mind. One prominent example was when Slade's mask had affected his mind with that dust Raven had jumped into his head. It was a unique feeling and it had partially helped him realize what the fake Slade was. He'd been having a weird feeling in his mind when he saw Slade before that night and Raven's trip into his mind helped him understand what it was, it was a feeling one got when another mind, or something meant to simulate another person was in his mind.

He was getting that feeling right now but it was faint. He was certain that if he hadn't felt it before he would have thought of it as a faint headache or something. The presence was performing a casual scan of him, it wasn't digging very deep but Robin could sense something, if he had to name it he would call it surprised curiosity. Thanking Raven for those lessons he gave to the team for blocking mental attacks he envisioned one of Cyborg's unbreakable containers encapsulating his mind. The presence vanished but not before Robin caught that it seemed impressed. Then it was gone.

Then Kid Flash came zooming back in and looked creeped out.

"Uh, guys, there's this weird horned thing using the elevators."

"How, the elevators should auto-lock in the event of a fire."

"Come and see for yourself!"

Robin walked into the hallway with Aqualad behind him. He just caught something that didn't look human as the doors shut on the elevator. With a suspicious look on his Robin walked up to the elevator doors. He turned on his hacker and had a look at the elevator's structure.

"This isn't right, this is a high-speed express elevator, not something you'd typically find in a two story building."

"Neither does what we saw" said Aqualad as he walked up to the doors and pried them open.

All three gazed into a shaft that ran down so far it disappeared into darkness.

"Makes sense" Robin commented, the others looked confusedly at him. "If you want to avoid detection, you can't well build a skyscraper, but nobody can see you underground. Still doesn't explain how they hide the power drain."

He shot a grapple into the ceiling of the shaft and began descending, he heard the other two grab onto it behind him. Once he'd reached the end of the line he swung to the nearest ledge with a door and sat down. Aqualad and Kid Flash soon joined him. Robin hacked into the security systems and disabled the alarms for the door.

"Ready to be opened."

Aqualad pried it open and they all walked in. Then Kid Flash, without warning, ran off down the hall.

"Wait!" said Robin in a loud whisper, Aqualad had been about to say the same thing but Robin had beaten him to it. The idiot was liable to get them all caught.

Kid Flash was barely able to slide under and through the legs of a herd of things as big as Elephants walking like gorillas. On the top of the lead one was a tiny creature, a bit bigger than a large frog. It had two horns on the top of its head which for some odd reason, glowed red for about half a second as it looked at them. Robin speculated on what the creatures were as he heard Aqualad remark sarcastically "no, nothing odd going on around here."

They continued on into Cadmus.

* * *

"_Targets sighted, the special one is with them, what should I do sir?"_

"_Pursue and stay out of sight. Maintain telepathic silence after you've convinced them that you mean to help them, even from our brothers and sisters. When you feel it's an opportune moment, talk to them and join them, if we pull this off we could free every genomorph in Cadmus. We'll at least make some progress tonight if nothing else."_

"_Yes sir, I will sir."_

"_And Skip."_

"_Yes sir."_

"_Take care of yourself."_

"_I will sir."_

* * *

Robin hacked through security and as it opened they saw a room with human-sized jars stacked along and up the walls. But it what was in the jars was the really weird thing. Each jar held what looked like a human-sized firefly, each was feeding electricity into wires in the tops of their jars.

"_Okay, I'm officially whelmed."_

Robin shook his head; again there was that voice that seemed to speak in his head without any input from his own mind. He heard Kid Flash begin talking and concentrated on what he was saying.

"This is how they hide the energy drain. The real Cadmus isn't on the power grid; it generates its own electricity. These things, it must be what they're bred to do."

"Of course, even the name is a clue, the Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing Dragon's teeth into the Earth."

Robin walked to the computer terminal and plugged in his hacker tool. He quickly scrolled through the hacked files to the one with a picture matching the small squat creature he'd seen leading the pack earlier on.

"The thing we saw earlier, the small thing, it's called a Genome. It's telepathic; they appear to have dozens running around this place. They can act as leaders to harems of the other creatures, they're called Genomorphs."

As Aqualad and Kid Flash came to take a look he looked up the abilities of the creatures.

"Wow, look at the stats on these things, super strength, razor claws, these things are living weapons."

"_Well of course we are, it's what we were bred to be."_

Kid Flash and Aqualad froze as the voice echoed in their minds. Robin however whipped out a Birdarang and aimed it, looking around for the source of the voice. It landed on the Genome they'd seen earlier. It held up it's hands and said, or maybe thought would be a better word, "_I don't want to fight you, I want to help you."_

Robin wasn't convinced, that was the same excuse Terra had used to get into the Tower and onto the team.

"Prove it."

Then they all heard a voice say "thought I heard something", along with some chittering and chattering around a bend just outside the door. The Genome in the room turned his head towards the door and his horns glowed red. They all heard a robotic sounding human voice say "I don't need to check the energy core, its safe in there." The footsteps then began retreating until they couldn't hear them anymore.

"What did you do?"

"_I told my sister with our chief of security to make him leave without seeing in here, she was suspicious but did as I asked."_

"Why do you want to help us?"

"_My master says it's for the best."_

"Your master, and just who's that?"

"_I can't tell you yet, you'll just have to trust me on that. He is the one who really controls the Genomorphs, he is the greatest of the Genomes and is saddened that the Genomorphs are made into slaves here. He sensed you coming and told me to help you."_

"Yeah, so if you really want to help, tell me what project Kr is" Robin said as he looked back at the screen to see a file triple encrypted, someone desperately wanted this file kept safe.

"_He is the best project here yet and the most important. He is . . . important to you humans in some way . . . a symbol perhaps. I know little of him; I am not down in his room often. If you wish I'll take you to him, but be warned, I cannot contact my brothers and sisters to help you anymore to maintain secrecy."_

The three heroes looked at each other, and then nodded.

"Alright, take us to him."

The Genome hopped on Aqualad's shoulders and said "_he's down at Sub-level 52, oh and my name is Skip'Con'Racha, but most people just call me Skip."_

"Skip it is then, let's go."

They stealthily crept to the stairs, because the Genome had insisted on it and began descending to sub-level 52.

* * *

Dr. Desmond was taking the elevator up to Sub-Level 17 with Guardian when they heard a clanging on top. As the elevator stopped, Guardian opened the emergency hatch and looked out on the top, he saw Robin's grapple coiled up but leading to the top still. He got back in and with a grim face said "we've got intruders."

* * *

They'd made it to Sub-Level 52; they'd had to hide a few times but had avoided detection. It was a dark room Skip led them to. Robin sealed the door, and then heard Kid Flash say "uh, Robin, you'll probably want to see this."

Robin turned and saw that Kid had pushed a button which triggered lights to illuminate a capsule, obviously the resting place of Project Kr. But it was what was inside the capsule that took Robin's breath away. A boy with black hair was lying back against a pad with three genomes in smaller capsules over his head. He had a white full body suit on and on his chest was the Superman logo.

* * *

"We just checked the generator room; most of our files concerning Genomorphs were hacked from the computer terminal there."

"They have that data? What about the files pertaining to Project Kr?"

"They were left alone, most likely the intruders didn't have time to hack them."

"Then they must have fled."

"Maybe, I still think we should check around first."

"Contact the Genomes with the weapon, ask them what they see. . . . What! They're with the weapon, we have to stop them! Guardian, summon every available Genomorph to Project Kr to apprehend the intruders."

"Got it."

* * *

Kid Flash approached the capsule and said in an awestruck voice "Big "k" little "r", the atomic symbol for Krypton."

He turned back to the others and asked "clone?"

"Robin, ha-" Aqualad began but as he looked down he saw that Robin was already hacking the computer terminal. As he hacked Robin mused on how he was really starting to hate the small Robin faces that appeared every time he did, they just seemed infantile and made him feel a bit stupid.

"Weapon designated Superboy. Yep, he's a clone and he was grown in, _sixteen weeks!_ From DNA acquired from Superman."

"Stolen from Superman."

"No way the big guy knows about this."

"The solar suit he's in allows him to absorb yellow sun radiation 24/7. That must contribute a lot to his powers."

"What are the Genome's doing?" Aqualad asked Skip.

"_They force-feed him education, they teach him things like reading, writing, among other things."_

"Like what other things?"

"_I don't know, I already told you, I'm not assigned to this project, my jobs are leading harems of Genomorphs around."_

"Nonetheless, this project is making a slave out of Superman's son."

"We need to contact the League, this is too big for us to do it solo any longer."

Robin wished they didn't have too but his adventures with the Titans had taught him some very important lessons. One of those lessons, driven into his head more prominently with Slade than with anyone else, was that you couldn't do everything alone, sometimes you had to call in reinforcements. Now was one of those times.

He nodded and Aqualad tapped the Aqualad symbol on his belt. Robin linked the outgoing signal with his mini-computer. They were too far below ground.

"Static."

"We're in too deep, literally."

"How slow can this elevator go, we must be on the lowest speed setting."

"Dr. Desmond, this is the fastest the elevator can safely go, we'll get there in time."

"I won't be satisfied until I see the intruders for myself."

Dr. Desmond looked at the Genome on his shoulder.

"Contact the Genomes inside Kr, tell them to order the weapon to deal with the intruders."

The Genome's horns glowed red.

Kid Flash saw the horns of the Genome's over Superboy glowing.

"This is wrong."

Robin suppressed the urge to say "_no really, I hadn't noticed._" He thought about what would be the best solution now. It seemed wrong to just leave Superboy at the hands of these scientists. He concluded the best course of action would be to set him loose.

"We'll set him free."

"Yo Rob, who said you were deciding anything."

"I agree with Robin."

"Fine, fine, set him loose."

Robin opened up the capsule and they all waited with baited breath. Then the clone opened his eyes and looked at them. They looked back.

"_Guys, the Genome's they're, THEY'RE TELLING HIM TO ATTACK!"_

Superboy jumped faster than a speeding bullet and slammed into Aqualad. He brought him to the floor and began punching him in the face. Kid Flash and Robin both grabbed his arms and tried to hold him back.

"Hang on Supey, we're on your side."

Superboy pulled his arm out of Kid Flash's grip and hit him hard. Kid Flash flew right into a glass cylinder and through it. He was unconscious before he hit the ground.

Robin grabbed a gas bomb out of his utility belt and shoved it in Superboy's open mouth. It went off and Superboy jerked back, gagging. Aqualad kicked Superboy off of himself and got up. Robin pulled out a Taser and shot it at Superboy, it just stuck in his suit, not even penetrating the skin. Superboy grabbed the lines and pulled Robin in, and Robin, instead of simply letting Superboy grab him and throw him like a ragdoll, put his feet forward and kicked Superboy right in the face. Superboy's head snapped back and he staggered. Robin landed as Aqualad ran up beside him.

"We are trying to help you!"

Superboy leapt again but this time they were ready. They dodged to the side and Aqualad grabbed Superboy under his arms. He used his version of electricity and fed it through his hands pressed against Superboy's head. Superboy gave a small cry and then he jumped before Robin could hit him. Superboy, or rather Aqualad hit the ceiling. Aqualad looked dazed as they landed to he did it again. Aqualad fell unconscious.

Now it was just Robin left standing. Superboy charged but Robin slipped under his punch and kicked him in the back. He reached for his Fighting Staff, only to find it wasn't there, this costume didn't have a fighting staff. While he was distracted Superboy hit him in the gut. He hit the far wall and slumped to his knees. As Superboy charged again Robin surprised him by jumping up and grabbing his face. His momentum carried them both to the floor but Robin got up ages before Superboy did.

Superboy got up, then felt his face and felt two capsules that beeped once before literally exploding in his face. Robin heard the sound of grinding metal and saw the door being forced open. Guardian, Dr. Desmond, and Dubbilex ran in with various Genomorphs beside them. Guardian looked surprised at the identities of the intruders, Dubbilex betrayed no emotion, but Dr. Desmond looked enraged and shouted to the Genormorphs "TAKE HIM DOWN, SHOW NO MERCY!"

Robin, knowing he would be overborne, threw a smoke capsule on the ground and it filled the room with a thick smoke. Robin knocked out anyone he saw, he was at 10 of the smaller monkey-like Genomorphs when he felt Superboy's arms wrap around his chest. He did the first thing that came to his mind and kicked his legs into Superboy's crotch. Superboy gave a howl of pain and, though he didn't release Robin, his grip slackened considerably. Robin slid down and out, he kicked Superboy in the faced and he fell away into the mist. Then Robin saw Dr. Desmond and rushed at him. But before he could get to him a large hand like a gorilla's, times 3 in size, came out and hit him hard. He flew against the wall and out of the smoke.

There were about 4 of the smaller genomorphs outside of the smoke cloud, making sure he didn't come out obviously. They swarmed him and held him down as Superboy came up to him, no doubt led by Super-hearing or something. Robin's last thought before Superboy knocked his lights out was "_what happened to Skip?"_

Then his world went dark.

As the smoke cloud dissipated a minute later, a coughing Dr. Desmond and Guardian looked at all of the knocked out sidekicks. Desmond smiled, he'd love to hear what the Light had to say about what to do with them.

* * *

_I hope that was enough action for you. I just recently moved this to the main archive because of advice given in a review that said that it's seen more widely there. The reviewer is writing their own Young Justice crossover which is also stashed in the main archive. You should really try it; it's called "Birds of a feather flock together?" by "TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne."_

_I came up with the good Genome idea out of the blue. I'd like some feedback as to how much you like that idea. As for the native Robin of Earth-16 (where the show is located) that will be explained as the story progresses._

_Differences lie in Robin's behavior and the fact that he has far more experience than the others, even more than the Young Justice Robin. Kid Flash will probably notice the change first but might not voice it until they're safely out of Cadmus. It seems to me that Robin from Teen Titans is more skilled than Robin from Young Justice because he actually seems to take his job seriously and has to train with his team._

_Drop a review please._

_Good day and God Bless, sincerely LordGodsServant._


	5. Independence Day Part 3

_I hope you enjoy this, this chapter concludes the Cadmus adventure. _

* * *

Dr. Desmond set his Genome on his desk; he rarely had the same one because they could rarely be distinguished from each other. He really didn't see the point in becoming attached to any single one, they were tools, nothing more and as long as they didn't brainwash him he would continue to use them as such.

The screens came down and the familiar holograms of shifting light in the figures of people appeared on them.

"Dr. Desmond, you require an audience with the Light?"

"Yes, very sorry to disturb you at this late ho-"

"Just make your report."

"Of course, ahem. There was a small fire here at Project Cadmus, the origin of the incident is still unknown but it seems to have attracted some . . . unwanted attention. Three sidekicks, Robin, Aqualad, and Kid Flash, breached security. They found and released the weapon, the Superboy. Of course the clone is under our telepathic control and as ordered turned against his would-be liberators. After a short fight with Robin most of all we knocked them unconscious and have contained them in pods. We don't believe the League knows they're here. Ah . . . what should I do with them?"

After a short silence the figures of light answered "clone them."

"The substitutes will serve the Light, and only the Light."

"And, the originals?"

"Dispose of them, leave no trace."

Dr. Desmond smiled, another thing he would enjoy. He was completely unaware of the Genome taking in every word that had been said.

* * *

On Sub-level 42 in a containment room three pods sat side by side. In each was a different sidekick with Robin being on the left, Kid Flash in the middle, and Aqualad on the right. Superboy stood a silent vigil, watching them. Though you couldn't tell by looking at him he was interested in them. They were the first outsiders he'd seen.

In each of the boy's minds, minus Superboy's a voice rang loud and sharp.

"_Time runs short . . . you must awaken . . .you must awaken NOW!"_

Kid Flash gasped as he surged back to consciousness with his friends. They all saw Superboy standing there, giving them a deadpan look to match Raven. Nobody noticed some tools come out of Robin's gloved fingers and they didn't notice as he went to work on the locks.

"What, what do you want!"

Superboy raised an eyebrow.

"Quit staring, it's creeping me o-"

"Kid Flash, would you put a leash on your lip for once."

"Woah Rob, what's the big deal?"

"Kid Flash, while I can admire your fast tongue in some cases this is not one of them. Robin is right, I do not think we should blame our friend, I do not think he was in full control of his actions."

"Wha- . . . w-what if I- . . . what if I wasn't?"

"He can talk?"

If Robin could've he would've slapped his forehead.

"Yes! He can!"

Everyone looked at Kid Flash and he justified "it's not like I said "it.""

Robin looked at Superboy "did the Genome's teach you how to speak?"

"They did, when I am asleep they educate me, I can read, write, and I know the names of many things."

"But do they let you see them; do they ever let you step outside of Cadmus, or even out of one of their Genome's sight?"

"Can they teach you who you are?"

Superboy looked at him a bit indignantly, then he spoke as if he had heard it many times before "I am the Superboy, a clone of the Superman, I was made to replace him should he perish. But also to dispose of him should he turn from the Light."

"Is that who you are, or who they tell you you are.

Superboy looked troubled, he'd never considered that before. Come to think of it, everything he ever knew was based upon what the people in Cadmus had told him.

Aqualad spoke next "to be like Superman is . . . a worthy aspiration. However, like Superman, you have a right to your own life, something beyond that Solar suit, beyond your pod, beyond Cadmus."

"I live because of Cadmus, IT IS MY HOME!" Superboy shouted.

Robin responded this time "Home is a place you like and are liked, a place you love and are loved in, and are respected as a person." He remembered Titans Tower where he had all three of those things. "Do they ever ask you your opinion of what they're going to do to you?"

"I- . . . no"

"Do they ever treat you like a real person rather than a dumb test subject to train and pour money into?"

"I . . . no."

"Have they ever respected your privacy of mind and body?"

" . . . no"

"Your "home" is a test tube. Have they ever actually let you see the Sun?"

"The Genome's implant images into my mind. But no, I have never actually seen it."

"We can show you it."

"Uh, pretty sure it's after midnight, but we can show you the moon."

Robin shot Kid Flash another "death glare" and he closed his mouth quick. Superboy looked intrigued by their offer, the expression only increased when Aqualad said "we can show you, introduce you to Superman."

Superboy's eyes widened, that was one of his secret dreams, to meet the man who gave him purpose and who he would like to consider his father. But then the doors opened behind them and Dr. Desmond said "no, they can't. They'll be, otherwise occupied."

Dr. Desmond, Guardian, and a female scientist they hadn't seen yet came in through the door.

"Activate the cloning process" Desmond ordered the woman.

Robin's eyes widened, the damage that could be done if clones of them were made was nearly unthinkable. He worked even faster with the unlocking tools.

Dr. Desmond turned to look at Guardian "and get the weapon back in its pod."

"Guardian?" Aqualad said in a surprised voice "your part of this?'

Guardian looked at them with blank eyes, "you are enemies of Cadmus and thus cannot be allowed to leave." He walked up and placed a hand on Superboy's shoulder.

Superboy looked at Aqualad, Aqualad said "help us, please."

Superboy looked at Robin, Robin said "is this really your home?"

Superboy shrugged Guardian's hand off his shoulder, Dr. Desmond walked forward and said in a voice one would use to chide a hyperactive 5-year-old "don't start thinking now."

The Genome on Desmond's shoulder hopped onto Superboy's shoulder and its horns lit up, but Superboy's face, instead of going blank, morphed into a surprised look as he glanced at the Genome telling him to wait a bit and get ready.

Dr. Desmond, not noticing the apparent lack of blank face shown by Superboy, continued speaking "you see you're not a real boy, you're a weapon, and you belong to me . . . well, to Cadmus, same thing. NOW GET BACK TO YOUR POD!"

Superboy's face now turned into an expression of anger and annoyance, Robin's words "home is where they respect you" flashed across his mind.

By now everyone had noticed Superboy's lack of obedience and was now looking at the Genome on Superboy's shoulder.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Dr. Desmond shouted at it.

Then, in all of the boy's minds a familiar voice sounded "_hey guys, miss me?"_

"_Skip?"_ all three of the boys exclaimed both out loud and in their heads.

"Who's Skip?" Guardian asked as he watched the situation with interest.

Then a whooshing sound was heard and they all turned to look at Robin's pod. Robin had unlocked his hand clasps and was pushing against the glass of his pod. The female scientist quickly reached for a button but was too late as Robin gave a monumental shove at the glass and forced it apart. He hopped down and kicked Guardian who had just run forward to stop him. He stood next to Superboy and threw a smoke capsule on the ground. He then turned to Superboy and said "free Aqualad, I'll get Kid Flash."

Superboy looked a bit resentful at the order but jumped up to Aqualad's pod anyway, before he did so Skip hopped onto Robin's shoulders. Robin freed Kid Flash, Aqualad thanked Superboy and he nodded. They all began running towards the doors. Behind them they heard Desmond shouting "you'll never get out of here, I'll have you back in pods before morning!"

"_That guy is not whelmed, not whelmed at all."_

Robin clutched his head, yet another random thought attack. It was gone within a second however and he concentrated on getting out of the facility.

Behind them, Desmond gave an order to a different Genomorph "activate every Genomorph in Cadmus." The Genome's horn's glowed red.

* * *

As they ran Aqualad said "we are still 42 levels below ground, but if we can make the elevator-." As he finished speaking they saw the Elephant sized Genomorphs begin to block their path. They stopped and turned to see the pods along the walls glowing and Genomorphs began to come out of them.

Superboy got into a ready stance. After one of the large ones had taken a vain swipe he leapt up and smashed it back. Robin grabbed his arm before he could do it again "Superboy, we're trying to escape, not fight."

"YOU WANT ESCAPE!"

He helped them get to the elevator by ramming through anything that got in their way. Aqualad forced open the doors and Robin shot off his secondary grapple. He got pulled up with Kid Flash in tow. Superboy grabbed Aqualad and leapt. For a few seconds it seemed as if they were flying, but then they began to slow down and Superboy said in astonishment "I . . . I'm falling!"

Robin, seeing their dilemma, threw something for them to grab into the wall. Aqualad grabbed it and they dropped down to the ledge everyone was standing on.

"Superman can fly, why can I fly?"

"Don't know, but it does seem like you can leap tall buildings in a single bound, still cool."

Robin, who was looking up the elevator shaft, barked out a command "Superboy, Aqualad, get us out of here!"

Superboy broke down the door and they all barely got out before the elevator crushed them. They looked down the hall and saw several of the small Genomorphs that looked rather like monkeys coming after them. They ran to their left.

Superboy heard a voice in his head suddenly, it said "_turn left brother_" after a moment of indecision he barked out "go left!"

"_Turn right brother."_

"Right!"

They turned into a dead end with a ventilation shaft at the top. Kid Flash turned with an annoyed look to Superboy "great directions Supey, are you trying to get us repotted?"

"No . . . I . . . I don't understand."

They all turned to Robin as he said "no, this is just what I needed."

They all got in and began climbing through the ducts. Robin turned on his mini-computer and began hacking. First he got a map of the ducts, then he disabled internal security and hacked the motion sensors, sending the bad guys on a wild goose chase to the men's restroom.

They got out on Sub- Level 10 and Robin said "Kid Flash, run ahead and clear the way with your super-speed."

"Who died and made you king of the-"

"JUST DO IT!" shouted Aqualad and Robin.

After a small grumble Kid Flash put on his goggles and ran up the staircases at super-speed. He cleared out a whole line of Genomorph's as the others followed behind him.

"_MORE BEHIND US!"_ shouted Skip mentally as he felt and saw the Genomorphs running up the stairs.

Superboy demolished the stairs behind them and they ran even faster if that were possible. They only had 3 levels to go before freedom.

Kid Flash had reached the entrance, but the doors closed right before he could get out. As a result he went barreling into them and fell down on the hard metal floor.

The others came and saw the closed door.

"We're cut off from the street!"

"Thanks, my head hadn't noticed."

Superboy and Aqualad went to work at the door while Robin in silence tried to hack it. They then saw the Genomorphs closing in behind them and Kid Flash saw a door on the side. "IN HERE!" he shouted and they all rushed in.

Only to find themselves in a room filled to bursting with Genomorphs. Genomorphs came behind them, trapping them. They all got ready to fight. Then all of the Genome's horns glowed red and they all fell to the ground unconscious. Cadmus had won.

Or so some might've thought.

Dubbilex, leader of the Genome's and the Genomorphs, strode forward, with his horns glowing and thought "_perhaps for the sake of all Genomorphs our brother Superboy should make up his own mind."_

Superboy's eyes flew open and he looked at Dubbilex "_it was you . . . you"_

"_Yes brother. I set the fire and drew your new friends down into Cadmus. Told Skip to help them, woke them when they were in danger and-"_

"_And guided me, why?"_

"_Because you are our hope, the Genomorph hero. You will blaze a trail for all our brothers and sisters, showing us the way to freedom."_

The Genome's horns stopped glowing and the one on Guardian's shoulder leapt off of it.

"Ugh, what's going on."

The other heroes began to wake up.

"_What is your choice brother?"_

Superboy set his face and said in a resolute voice "I . . . choose . . . freedom."

He thought he could sense an internal smile of approval as Dubbilex looked at him. Then Dubbilex's attention shifted to Robin. He thought so that only Robin could hear.

"_You are different from the others, unique."_

"_How so?"_

"_You where able to sense me as I briefly looked at your minds in the building above. But what I sensed was even more evidence. You are a newcomer, you did not live in this reality before today."_

Robin froze, he paid no attention to what the others were saying to Guardian "_how do you know that?"_

"_Your mind is a stranger to that body, that body is not its first place of rest, nor have you been in it for very long. A telepath can sense these things. You are greatly uneasy because you are afraid that you are alone and that perhaps your memories are a mere construct. Let me assure you that they are not construction, your memories are real and you do not belong in this reality."_

"_Then were do I belong?"_

"_In another reality, that is all I know on that point."_

They were distracted by Dr. Desmond, he was holding a vial of blue liquid.

"Project Blockbuster should give me the power I need to restore order to Cadmus."

He then downed it in one gulp. He immediately began contorting and growing in size. He doubled over and it seemed as if his skin was flaking off until it gave way to what looked like rock-hard skin. Desmond, or perhaps Blockbuster, stood up and roared. Then he looked down at them with a malevolent smile.

"Stay back!" Guardian ordered, and then he charged. With one sweep Blockbuster hit him into the far wall where he lay and didn't move.

Superboy leaped and hit Blockbuster several times. Then he leapt again but this time Blockbuster also leapt and hit Superboy so hard that it carried them through the ceiling.

Robin got out his grapple and shot it through the hole, he got Skip on his shoulder and he grabbed Kid Flash's arm as Kid said "you think labcoat planned that?"

"I doubt he's planning anything anymore."

As they got up they saw that the battle was still going on in full force. Blockbuster grabbed Superboy by the feet and hurled it at the three young heroes. He hit Aqualad and the two others hurried to help them up.

Blockbuster roared defiantly at them as they got up. Skip, knowing he would only be a hindrance, leapt off of Robin's shoulder and waited. Then both sides charged. Kid Flash slid under Blockbuster's feet. This distracted Blockbuster and he received a dual punch from Aqualad and Superboy. As he fell Kid Flash put his back against Blockbuster's so that his head hit the ground first.

"Learned that one in Kindergarten."

Robin leapt over him and threw some disks at Blockbuster. He tried to fend them off, thinking them to be merely Birdarangs but they exploded against his arm. He lashed out and hit Robin across the room.

Blockbuster got up and charged Superboy, he began hitting him against on of the concrete columns holding up the room. Robin looked up to the ceiling and noticed that the columns were the only things holding up the room, then he had his idea.

"KID FLASH, AQUALAD , GET OVER HERE!"

Superboy only had to endure three more hits before Kid Flash distracted Blockbuster by grabbing what skin had been his nose. As Kid Flash led Blockbuster around the room playing catch-me-if-you-can, Superboy was informed of the plan and set to it with a will, smashing columns with Aqualad.

Robin drew an X on the floor and Aqualad sprayed water on it. Robin asked Skip "how mad is he?"

"_That's the only thing I can derive from his mind right now, pure unadulterated hatred."_

"Good."

Kid Flash charged down beyond the X and stopped as Blockbuster charged after him. Superboy leapt and hit him at exactly the right moment so he fell right on the X. Aqualad then electrocuted him to keep him on the target.

"Run!" Robin shouted and he scooped up Skip as they all ran towards the exit of the building. The bombs he'd planted on the pillars exploded and the ceiling began caving in. Blockbuster roared as it fell on him. Superboy and Aqualad jumped over Kid Flash and Robin as the roof in their section fell in.

From the outside, it seemed as if Cadmus collapsed in on itself. Nothing stirred within the ruins. Then a fist emerged and a large boulder-sized concrete slab was thrown aside as Superboy stood up. He had a rip in the solar suit that partially covered the Superman insignia.

They were all panting hard as Aqualad looked back at Kid Flash and Robin who's uniforms had numerous cuts and rips in them.

"We . . . did it!"

Robin smiled and said "we . . . did it . . . together." He saw Kid Flash raise his hand for a high five and, smiling at him, returned the gestured. It hurt their bruised ribs when their hands collided.

Superboy looked at Blockbuster, only his shoulders, arms and head could be seen. It was quite obvious he had no fight left within him.

"See."

Superboy turned to face Kid Flash.

"The moon."

Superboy looked and saw the white glowing orb in the sky, to some it might have been quite a mundane sight but to the clone who had never taken a step outdoors it was a wonder to behold.

Then, a figure appeared flying in the moons light. Then they all recognized it as the Man of Steel himself.

"Oh, and Superman, do we keep our promises or what?"

They saw what looked like all the Justice League landing, including their mentors. They all looked at the young heroes with questioning looks.

Then Superboy walked forward, his eyes fixated on Superman. Superman watched him with narrowed eyes. Superboy pulled back the ripped piece of cloth on his solar suit to reveal the "S" that was the Superman insignia. Superman looked shocked at this. Superboy smiled like a person trying to please his mentor, or maybe a son trying to please his father. Instead of smiling back, Superman frowned down at the clone. Superboy's smile turned into a look of shock at Superman's disapproval.

"Is that what I think it is?" the comment came from Batman.

Kid Flash began to walk forward but Robin, knowing Kid all too well, grabbed his shoulder and shook his head. Instead Robin walked forward and said "_he_, helped us get out of Cadmus."

The Leaguers still looked suspicious so Superboy said in a loud voice "I'm Superman's clone!"

The entire League looked shocked and surprised at this statement. Batman broke the uncomfortable silence by simply saying "start talking."

* * *

Blockbuster had been carried off by several Leaguers including the Green Lanterns. The three young heroes had told their story and the League was now discussing what to do. Superboy looked at Superman and saw he was talking with Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter. The Manhunter put his hand on Superman's shoulder and nodded his head towards Superboy. Superman appeared to sigh and then walked towards Superboy. Once he was face to face with him he said, in a voice that indicated he would rather not be the one doing this "we'll figure something out for you, the League will I mean. For now, I better make sure they get that Blockbuster thing squared away."

With that unsatisfactory bit of conversation he turned and took off into the night sky. Superboy stood glaring off after him, "what a big letdown" would sum up what he was thinking at that moment. Then he felt Robin's hand on his shoulder and heard him say "I know what it feels like." He said nothing and shrugged the hand off his shoulder. Then they all turned as Batman started talking. Aquaman and The Flash were right behind him.

"Cadmus will be investigated, all 52 levels but let's make one thing clear-"

"You should've called."

"End results aside we are not happy, you hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders, and endangered lives. You will not be doing this again."

Robin felt anger boil in his gut and he strode forward "this again! Sorry, but I think we will!"

"Robin, stand down."

"No! We did our job, we did what you trained us to do and now you all have the nerve to reprimand us for doing our job!"

"If this is about your treatment at the hall, the three of you-"

"The four of us, and it's not."

"We are ready to do the job you trained us to do My King. How do expect us to ever become independent if you do not let us do anything without you."

"Why let them tell us what to do? It's simple, get on board, or get out of the way."

All four young heroes glared at the three older ones. Batman, sought for a way to defuse the situation, then he wondered whether a similar situation was what led to this Robin going solo. He had come far, he'd even formed his own organization, his own Justice League as it were. Then it dawned on him, he'd found a solution.

"I think I can make a compromise here."

Everyone gathered in to hear his idea.

* * *

Four days later several heroes including the sidekicks gathered at Mt. Justice. Batman walked in front of the heroes who, except for Robin and Superboy, were standing alongside their mentors.

"This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League. Since you four are determined to stick together and fight the good fight, you'll do it on League terms. Red Tornado volunteered to live here and be your Supervisor, Black Canary's in charge of training. I will deploy you on missions."

"Real missions?" Robin asked with his arms crossed.

"Yes, but covert."

"The League will still handle all of the obvious stuff, there's a reason we have these big targets on our chests."

"But Cadmus proves the bad guys are getting smarter, Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly."

"The five of you will be that team."

Robin nodded, it was a good compromise, he got to use the resources of the League to help him get home, and in exchange he worked as part of the Young Justice League. Then he noticed something about what Batman had said.

"The _five_ of us?"

Batman looked behind them and as they turned said "this is the Martian Manhunter's niece, Ms. Martian."

A girl about their age walked up to meet them with Martian Manhunter behind her. She shyly waved as she said "hi." Robin was instantly reminded of Starfire and her shyness at being around a (to her) completely alien culture and living on an alien world.

"I'm liking this gig more every minute" Kid Flash commented. Robin mentally smacked himself, the similarity between this Kid Flash and his own was astounding if annoying at times. Kid Flash walked towards Ms. Martian "welcome aboard, I'm Kid Flash, that's Robin, Aqualad, its cool if you forget their names."

"I'm honored to be included."

Kid Flash and Aqualad strode forward to properly get to know Ms. Martian. Robin started to but notice Superboy hanging back. He put his hand on Superboy's shoulders and said "c'mon, let's meet Ms. Martian."

Superboy consented to walking forward and looking at Ms. Martian. Robin saw her shirt change to the same black as his as she looked up and commented shyly, "I like your t-shirt."

Superboy looked up, and then smiled. Robin patted him on the shoulder as they looked at Aqualad who said proudly "today is the day."

* * *

_Hey, I hope you enjoyed this; I left out the villain parts because they really didn't change that much and didn't contribute to the storyline since most of you already know them. The only solo villain scene is when Skip spies on Desmond talking to the Light. _

_I am considering doing a filler chapter between this and "Welcome to Happy Harbor" to try and expand on Robin and the story as a whole, I would just like your opinion on that. Also, I'd like your opinion on the good Genome Skip._

_I hope I didn't make Robin seem too perfect. The difference I'm trying to stress is that he's far more experienced, skilled, and a take-charge sort of person than the Young Justice Robin. I didn't get around to any character criticisms by the other sidekicks in this chapter, mainly because their lives were in danger most of the time._

_Please include your thoughts in reviews; this is one of my first fics to be published._

_Anyway, good day and God Bless _

_Sincerely, LordGodsServant_


	6. Gotham Moments

_My plan is to go through the episodes currently on TV with the alterations Robin would provide and then strike out into my own territory; I have several ideas on some interesting changes. I also might add some fillers of my own making. _

_I would appreciate your opinion on this; I am a relative newcomer to this site though I have read on it for years. I've only had my account roughly about 2-3 weeks._

_Enjoy my first filler!_

* * *

Robin woke in Wayne Manor again. This time though he didn't leap up and begin a search for falsehoods, this time he had actually fallen asleep here. He got up and dressed into some work clothes. The he began doing some pushups. After several sets of 20 he took a shower and walked down to the dining room. To his great surprise he found the table set with bacon and eggs and a myriad of other breakfast foods. Bruce was sitting at the head of the table eating breakfast and Alfred was setting some more food on the table.

As soon as Alfred saw Robin he bowed and slid a chair out, saying courteously "greetings young master Grayson, I hope this food is to your liking, I was not certain whether you enjoyed the same breakfast our master Grayson."

Robin looked accusatorily at Bruce and he shrugged while saying "I don't lie to Alfred, I thought it prudent he not get confused by your abrupt change in personality,"

After a second, Robin nodded, sat down and began to load food onto his plate. Bruce cleared his throat and Robin looked up from the eggs he had been about to dig into.

"I thought it prudent to alert another member of the Bat-Clan to your . . . predicament."

"Who?"

Bruce's eyes flicked down the table and Robin followed his gaze. His eyes came to rest on a girl about his age, with long red hair.

"Batgirl."

Barbara Gordon, daughter of the Commishioner Gordon, and Batgirl, looked at Robin as if she were trying to size up the new person in Robin's body. Then she laughed as she saw Robin's mask "do you ever take that thing off!"

Robin stared back at her as she laughed "no, I don't."

Once Barbara had gained control of herself she asked "why? Don't you ever have any downtime?"

"Of course I do, I just prefer to keep my identity as secret as I can."

"Come on Dick, I mean you have to take off the mask when you go out with Bruce."

Robin glanced at Bruce who explained "I hadn't got around to telling her yet."

"Telling me what yet?"

"Barbara, in my universe I don't live with Batman."

"What, do you live with me?"

"No, I live in Jump City and run my own team called the Teen Titans."

Barbara looked shocked "Robin without Batman, huh. That's almost unthinkable."

"Not for me it isn't" Robin retorted rather annoyed, with that he began to chomp down on eggs in silence. For about five minutes they all ate in silence. Then Bruce cleared his throat and said "well, we won't be able to solve the problem if we know nothing about where you come from. I think you should tell us about your universe Dick."

Robin nodded and started off "a few years ago, my Batman and I had a falling out and I packed up and left for Jump City. On my first day acting as the city's new hero I met the four people who would become my teammates. Beast Boy, who had just left the Doom Patrol, Cyborg who lived alone in Jump City, Raven who was trying to find her place on Earth, and Starfire who'd just broken free of some Gordanian slavers. After a short adventure in which we all got to know each other we decided to stay together and form a team. I became the leader."

"Why did they select you as leader?"

"I had the most experience and I was able to lead effectively, they noticed after several missions and asked me to become leader. Our first major villain we faced was Slade."

"Slade?"

"He also goes by Deathstroke."

"Ah, now I know who you're talking about, but he's dangerous, why didn't you contact the League?"

Robin leveled his eyes at Batman, "I think you can guess after the little problem we had before and after Cadmus. The League babied us too much and was too domineering, they acted like they had a monopoly on all heroics and that we had to become part of them."

Bruce digested this view as Robin continued, "I became obsessed with him and it hurt my standing with my team. I did several things I'm not proud of, but it came to a head when my team was off on a wild goose chase and I faced Slade alone. He injected my friends with nanoscopic probes and forced me to become his apprentice or he would kill them. I did it."

"How did you get out?"

"I injected myself with the probes as well and since he didn't want to lose his apprentice he was forced to let us go."

Bruce raised his eyebrows; he was impressed at the nerve and brains of this Robin.

"We had many other adventures which would be too tedious to go into right now but the Teen Titans grew to enormous size and still is enormous."

"Well there are several ways in which we can attempt to find your universe of origin, we can try to track your quantum signature to the right universe, or we could have Dr. Fate/Kent Nelson check his library on universal transfer or-"

But at that moment they were interrupted by a beeping sound from Bruce's pocket. He pulled out what looked like a PDA and said in a grim voice "trouble, Two-Face is holding up a bank in downtown Gotham."

All three got dressed and left to stop the crime.

* * *

In Mount Justice the rest of the Young Justice team was lounging around. Aqualad and Kid Flash were playing a video game. As they played, Kid Flash mentioned "you notice how Robin was acting differently?"

"What do you mean?"

"At Cadmus, he kept ordering me around; he was acting like a real jerk."

"From my perspective he was merely taking prudent precautions, most of his orders and actions were to our benefit on that adventure."

"Well that's not how the Robin I know acts, I know him better than you and something weird is going on."

"I am certain there is a reasonable explanation for Robin's change in personality, perhaps he is merely trying to take a hero's job more seriously."

"Yeah, or maybe he just likes acting like a jerk."

"Kid."

"Yeah?"

"Be quiet and play."

"Fine."

* * *

Harvey Dent, otherwise known as Two-Face, was in a good mood. His heist was going off without a hitch. Of course his mood never really affected his actions. Ever since the fateful day when someone had thrown acid that had permanently scarred one half of his face he had become Two-Face. Now most of his decisions rested with a flip of the coin. And right now he had a pistol pressed against the forehead of a security guard and had his coin ready.

"Don't be afraid, after all, your chances of living are half-and-half."

He threw the coin into the air and every eye seemed to watch it as it went up and then started coming back down.

Even the eyes of a certain Boy Wonder.

A Birdarang flashed through the air and hit the gun Two-Face was toting away from the guard and Robin landed right behind Two-Face who was snarling. In other parts of the bank Two-Face's henchmen found themselves set upon by Batman and Batgirl, they left Two-Face to Robin.

Before Robin could do anything Two-Face grabbed the petrified guard and shoved him in front of him in the classic hostage hold, complete with a gun to the head.

"Now Harvey, are you sure you want to do that? You can't get out of here and you know it."

"You interrupted my coin toss, now I'm unsure what to do with this guard!"

Robin glanced at the coin lying on the ground, and all he could see was a pristine, unmarked side of it.

"Well if we're going by the coin Harvey then good wins, it's heads."

"What! But you cheated, you interrupted it, is it really heads?" he asked and for the briefest moment he looked away at the coin to confirm that heads was the side facing up.

That moment was all Robin needed. A Birdarang whizzed through the air and hit Harvey right in the face. He let go of the guard and stumbled back right out a window. Coincidentally, the bank was housed on the third floor of the building. Harvey began to fall but suddenly felt himself get grabbed by the leg.

As the gun fell to Earth he looked up to see Robin begin to pull him back in.

"You . . . saved . . . me? Why?"

"I don't know Harvey; maybe I should've flipped a coin!"

Robin tied Two-Face up as Batman and Batgirl came over.

"Huh, this is weird."

"What?"

"Not having you laugh all the time, I'm used to you laughing whenever we go on missions together."

"Why would I, or he, laugh about something so serious?"

"I don't know, it just lightened the situation."

* * *

Once they got back to Wayne Manor Batman noticed that Robin spent the rest of the day training and was glued to the computer the times he wasn't doing that.

The next day Batman ran the DNA tests again but this time he looked for a difference in Quantum signature. Everything gives off a Quantum signature matching whichever universe they came from. He'd even archived the impish Bat-Mite's quantum signature into his computer. But when the test came back he frowned and ran it again. It came back the same which caused Batman to scratch his head in confusion, why did this Robin have the same Quantum signature as his Robin or even Batman himself. This was obviously far more complex than one of those freak dimensional exchanges.

Later that same day Batman was looking around for Robin and he asked Alfred where he might find him.

"I believe I saw master Grayson headed towards the Batcave."

Batman entered the Batcave and found that Robin's motorcycle was missing. He hopped into the Batmobile and took off following the tracer he put in all the vehicles he owned.

Once he got into Gotham he honed in on the motorcycle's location. When he was within 10 feet of it he stopped and got out. Robin was holding several robbers and was handing them off to police officers. As the Police Car drove off Batman walked up to Robin "what in the world do you think you're doing?"

Robin looked back at him impudently "arresting some robbers thank you very much. Not just that but they work for the Penguin."

"Do you have any idea how dangerous it was to do this alone?"

Robin eyed him in annoyance "no more dangerous than it is for you to prowl the streets at night."

With that Robin jumped on the Motorcycle and sped off, Batman got in the Batmobile and sped after him. They got back to the Batcave and Robin immediately got on the Bat-Computer and started looking up locations in Gotham.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing _you'd _be interested in!" The words were hissed through clenched teeth and they caught Batman off guard. His Robin rarely ever talked back to him or questioned him, and especially not so venomously.

"Don't you want some help?"

"I don't need your help!"

Batman realized this had to go beyond the simple action of him being angry at Robin for doing a job alone. This probably had to do with this Robin's original Batman and the rift that seemed to be between them. Batman walked out of the cave and went to get some lunch.

About an hour later he came back and found both Robin and the motorcycle gone. He walked up to the Bat-Computer, it had nothing up, clearly Robin hadn't wanted him to follow whatever case he had taken. Thankfully Batman had a trick or two up his cape.

"Repeat all actions from the last hour and a half."

The computer immediately ran to the extensive files he kept on Gotham City itself, it quickly isolated the locations folder and began combing the files. It searched the locations associated with Black Market deals and after it had narrowed down the list, ran a checklist of the current villains of the Batman rogues gallery free and at large. Then it focused in on the Penguin, a rather plump midget who was constantly gaining and losing small fortunes in his attempts to buy out parts of Gotham and conquer others. The computer then stopped, apparently that was all Robin had done.

Batman ran to the Batmobile and, using the tracer again, tracked Robin's motorcycle to an abandoned pier warehouse. He stopped about 3 blocks away from it to avoid attracting attention and snuck onto the top of the building. He looked down through a skylight and from what he could see the Penguin and a man he recognized as one of the rich company owners from a different city were sitting at a table. The Penguin had a large briefcase and was looking at another briefcase being held by the man on the opposite side of the table. It was obviously a deal on the Black Market though what was being exchanged was unclear. The Penguin unlocked his briefcase and opened it to show the other man.

"A full set of Batarangs, Birdarangs and even that primitive grappling hook Batgirl sometimes uses."

"And here's the money, as promised, $50,000 for genuine Batman artifacts. But where's the gas mask?"

"Unfortunately that little business transaction was thwarted by the Boy Blunder. I propose that in exchange you cut $5,000 from your payment."

"25,000!"

"10,000!"

"22,000!"

"13,000!"

"17,000!"

"16,000!"

". . . Done!"

The rich man counted the right amount out of the briefcase and was in the process of exchanging the remaining money with the Batman Artifacts when suddenly smoke erupted from the ground and Batman heard some thuds and grunts. When the smoke cleared Robin was standing in front of the rich man with both suitcases in hand and Penguin's knocked out guard's right behind him. Penguin himself was bound and trussed up on the table and was struggling. The rich man's own guards got ready but Robin said "no need, I'm not going to hurt you."

He tossed one of the cases into the rich man's lap and he opened it to find his money.

"Next time you want some of these" Robin held up the suitcase, "try a museum instead of the Black Market."

He then signaled Commishioner Gordon and left as the rich man did likewise with his guards.

As Robin got outside the building he heard Batman's unwelcome voice say "you did pretty well in there."

"Hmmm, what do you want?"

"I'm wondering, did my counterpart in your universe ever let you out of the nest?"

Robin simply stood there for a long while, then, as the sirens in the distance began getting closer, he said "walk with me."

Batman nodded and signaled the Batmobile and Robin's motorcycle to head back to the Batcave. They began walking along the abandoned piers. After a bit Robin asked "why do you care?"

"Because you are Robin and thus I care about you, even though it might be hard to show at times."

Robin took a long time to respond. Finally he began talking "not really. He got angry when I took my first solo mission. It was pretty straightforward, Two-Face and Penguin were bartering for a new ray gun. I broke in but halfway into beating the snot out of the two of them and their henchmen yo-, my Batman came storming in through a window in a rage. Once we had subdued the criminals he began screaming about how I was being irresponsible, endangering my life for no good reason, and how I wasn't ready yet to do things alone. I pointed out that I had them on the ropes by the time he burst in and that seemed to only make him angrier."

"Over time as I continually did things more independently he became more and more angry and resentful of me. I didn't really understand why but it began to bear down on me. I also used to not really care when people always associated me with him, but I started to resent it more and more with each passing day. That along with the fact that Gotham really isn't the place you'd like to spend summer vacation started weighing on my mind more and more. Finally, one night after I had taken down the Joker and had sent him off to Arkham Asylum, I came back into the cave and found Bruce waiting for me. He had a displeased look on his face and he started off with the same phrases about how I was being stupid and about how I wasn't ready and how I had to do what he said, but something snapped inside of me."

"I looked him straight in the eyes and began screaming if that was how low his opinion was of me then maybe I should just leave. I grabbed all the stuff I could really claim as "mine", loaded it into my car, and just took off down the road. After a few goodbyes to the people I knew in Gotham like Barbara I decided to go to Jump City. I figured that it had no iconic hero so I had no better place to start. You know the general story from then on."

Robin walked a bit ahead and Batman digested this knowledge in silence. It was a strange thing; this Robin was the result of a refusal to completely submit himself to his Batman's shadow. Batman couldn't really see his Robin doing what this Robin had; he was too content with his current role. However, he wondered what would happen if the League continued to try and dominate the young heroes future careers. It was a grim lesson to be learned.

"I can understand your situation Robin."

"I don't know about that. You forged yourself that symbol on your chest by yourself. You had no shadow in which you grew up in. You were never a sidekick. When you started as a hero, villains had no one to compare you too and they never knew what hit them. They had never faced a hero that did his work best and thrived in the darkness they loved to inhabit. Superman and even Metropolis exemplify light and peace, they didn't have to stoop to the levels you and I do. But I, people constantly compare me to you. You heard Barbara at breakfast yesterday; it's almost unthinkable for anyone in this universe to think of Robin without Batman. But it's entirely plausible to think of Batman without Robin. My reputation is entirely dependent on yours."

Batman thought about this as they headed back to the Batcave.

* * *

At Mt. Justice, Kid Flash and Aqualad had gone home. The only residents of the base now were Red Tornado, Ms. Martian, Superboy, and Skip. Skip had been the subject of some controversy about whether he should be allowed to stay with the Young Justice but a strong testimonial from the team and from Dubbilex had convinced the League to allow him to live at Mt. Justice.

Ms. Martian was walking down a corridor when she heard a dog barking. She opened a door and saw several Rabbits and a large dog running around the room. Seated on top of a table was Skip. Ms. Martian walked in and inquired politely "_what are you doing?_"

"_Practicing my mind techniques, it is good to start on these basic animals."_

His horns glowed red and the Rabbits banded together and began flanking the dog who, playing along, made fake charges and bites.

"_Isn't it rather mean to take over their free will?"_

"_They are not sentient, not on the same awareness levels as you or I. They are slightly more complex than robots but have they have no souls. Have you ever wondered what distinguishes you or I from the Ants we crush in the hundreds every time we tread on an anthill? We have souls, we are aware; we can think and dream beyond simply producing offspring and getting our next meal. That is why I prefer animals over sentient things."_

Ms. Matrian nodded and was surprised when one of the Rabbits leaped into her hands. Giggling, she began petting it, enjoying its soft fur. Skip turned his eyes on the dog and it grew still. Skip hopped on its back and rapped his arms as tightly as he could around it. It took off with him in tow. It jumped around like a bucking bronco, nearly sheared him off running beneath the table, and seemed like it was trying to break his back as it slammed itself repeatedly against the wall.

"_What are you doing?"_

"_Trying to familiarize myself with situations in which I must hold on and how to accomplish that. I am also trying to build up my mental capacity to larger creatures."_

"_Weren't the Gernomorphs at Cadmus as big as elephants?"_

"_That was different, they were sentient and I was simply acting as their guide. We are brothers and sisters in Cadmus and didn't invade each others privacy. When I led them around the base I was their humble guide, it was their choice entirely whether they followed me or not."_

"_Ah, I think I understand, maybe we can practice together."_

"_I'd like that, sometime between missions perhaps."_

Ms. Martian nodded. Then, after Skip had gotten back onto the table and was practicing with the animals again, she got a playful smile on her face. She walked around behind him and suddenly flipped him onto his back and started tickling his tummy.

"_Hehehe st-stop th-that, th-that's n-not f-funny!"_

"_You know you like it!"_

"_Hehehehe, HAHAHAHAH!"_

Both began laughing long and hard. After they were done Skip leapt onto Ms. Martian's shoulder and they went to the kitchen to get a snack.

* * *

The next day Batman walked to the Batcave and he heard what sound like welding going on. He entered in and saw Robin's motorcycle in pieces and Robin working on putting it back together in a distinctively unfamiliar shape.

"Robin, what are you doing?"

Robin flipped the power switch on the welding machine and stood up wiping sweat off his forehead.

"While this motorcycle has several other features that my motorcycle back home doesn't it doesn't feel right in my hands. It seems like I may be staying here awhile so I might as well try to do my job the best I can. I'm also going to be reinventing several of my weapons this Robin hasn't gotten around to."

He grabbed a big chunk of metal and made to pick it up. But as soon as he'd gotten it up he toppled and fell over. Batman ran over to help him up "what happened?"

Robin was grumbling under his breath "this Robin's body isn't as strong as my original one. It's quite annoying; I'm going to have to up my exercise program."

Batman wondered what it would be like for his Robin to get back from the other universe and find his body a lot stronger than when he'd left it. It might work both ways and this Robin would have to implement his new exercise regimen again. He wondered what it was like for the Teen Titans. He wondered whether his Robin had told them of the change in universes. He probably had and they seemed like decent enough people so they probably were looking for a solution. He hoped that his Robin could get the Titan's version of the League on board too though he was a bit wary of their Batman from the description this Robin had given him.

"Do you need any help with this?"

"No, thanks but this involves as much trial and error as simple welding, I don't have the plans for my motorcycle, or as I liked to call it the "R-Cycle" so I'm having to rebuild it from scratch. I'll probably have to finish it at Mt. Justice"

Batman looked at him in surprise "you're moving there?"

Robin nodded "tomorrow, I prefer to live in my HQ, the same way I did at Titan's Tower. I have nothing against you; this just will make me more comfortable. Don't worry, I'll visit here often."

Batman consented, it was logical for the boy to go with what seemed the most familiar to him. He hoped he might be able to help him in a way rebuild the relationship he seemed to have lost with his Batman. He hoped he wasn't like the negative review that Robin had given his Batman.

Batman then resolved to be on the lookout for symptoms of the situation that had driven this robin away. He wouldn't make the same mistake with his Robin.

Later that same day Batman came in and saw that Robin was done with the R-Cycle. It now had a more solid look about it; he highly doubted it could split into two parts. It was larger in the front than in the back and was more rounded.

"Like it?" Robin stepped back into the Batcave with a drink of water.

"It certainly looks different than the one I'm used to, but I bet it packs a punch."

Robin walked up to the station he used to make various materials. Batman followed and saw that he was making what looked like progressively smaller metal tubes.

"What's this?"

"During Cadmus, I noticed that this Robin never made use of the fighting staff. That's one of my weapons of choice. So I'm making a new retractable one."

Batman was beginning to be impressed yet again. The skill gap between this Robin and his own widened ever more. This Robin not only took charge of the situation without a mentor, he knew how to make a motorcycle from scratch and a retractable staff.

"Where did you learn all of these skills?"

"My Batman taught me some of them. I bet you've taught your Robin some of them as well, but as for the majority of them I taught myself. You'd be surprised at how many times I almost blew up the tower looking for the right chemical compound to make my fighting staffs with."

Batman was distracted by a beeping sound and he turned to see that some robbers were holding up a bank. After a brief look at Robin who had his gaze fixed stubbornly on his staff pieces, he said "why don't you take this one Robin, I think you can handle it."

Robin dropped the piece of staff he was holding in surprise, but when it hit his foot he hopped up and down while thanking Batman. After he had taken the robbers down he reflected that maybe this Batman wasn't so bad.

* * *

Robin left the next morning for Mt. Justice. He said goodbye to Alfred, Batman, and Barbara and drove his motorcycle through the teleporter tube to Mt. Justice.

Ms. Martian was waiting for Robin as he entered Mt. Justice.

"Welcome to Mt. Justice, I hope you'll like it here."

Her shy personality made Robin smile; she was so reminiscent of Starfire to him.

"I'm sure I'll like it fine. Say, would you like to take a walk around the base with me for a bit and we can just talk? I need to put my things away."

"I'd love that."

After Robin had put away his things he started walking around the base with her.

"So, what's your real name?"

"Sorry, I generally keep that secret; people could trace my identity to Batman's if it ever got out."

"Oh, I see, well mine's no secret. My name is M'gann M'orzz, but you can call me Megan. It's an Earth name and I'm on Earth."

Robin smiled.

"So, how did you learn about Earth?"

"Mostly through TV shows, we can tap into them on Mars."

"You should know that a lot of what you see on TV isn't true."

"What? You mean that there isn't a sea sponge living at the bottom of the sea who works at a place called the Krusty Krab?"

". . ."

"I'm only joking; I know that stuff isn't true. I know there's a whole bunch of things I don't know about Earth, to tell the truth I'm a bit nervous."

She did look a bit nervous so Robin put a hand on her shoulder "it'll be fine, I can help you."

"You will, oh thanks a lot!"

They walked into the kitchen and Ms. Martian began looking through the cookbook.

"_The hamburgers are quite easy to make and can be quite tasty I hear."_

Robin looked around at the counter and saw Skip sitting on one end looking at them.

"_Robin, do you mind if we make Hamburgers?"_

"No, not at all."

As Ms. Martian got out some patties Robin turned on the stove. He also got out the fryer. They chatted over making lunch, they covered topics like Mars, Earth, Batman, Martian Manhunter, and Earth television. Once the food was done Robin called Superboy in. Once Superboy got into the kitchen he asked "what?"

"We've got lunch ready."

"Yeah, so?"

"You can have some."

"Oh, thanks."

Robin noticed that he had a noticeable apathetic attitude. He also noticed the blush on Ms. Martian's face. He dished all of them equal amounts of the food and walked to his room. He had chosen the room with the most office space. He spent the remainder of the day trying to find information on Cyborg and Beast Boy in this Universe.

The next day he finished his retractable staff and then took to the training room. They had a training holograph projector and a training gym. He trained in the gym, it felt more reminiscent of Titan Tower's training room. He started off by practicing balance on raised platforms and then began practicing with a punching bag.

He practiced for several hours. After he was done with the punching bag he began doing an obstacle course. He relished in the feelings of freedom, strength and capability it gave him to bound around it. After the final leap he sat panting but was quite surprised to hear clapping and whooping. He turned to see Ms. Martian watching from the sidelines. He'd been so engrossed in the training that he hadn't noticed her.

"You are amazing!"

"I ought to be after 6 years."

"You've been a hero for 6 years?"

"Yep."

"Wow, you'll have to teach me some stuff; I haven't ever even been on a mission before."

"Maybe, but remember, you have superpowers, I don't."

"Which is what makes you and Batman all the more cool."

Robin raised an eyebrow at her.

"All the other heroes are good, but you and Batman, you are able to match them all without any powers."

Robin felt flattered. Then he had an idea and said "say Megan, do you think you could tell Superboy to meet me in the living room at 8 tonight, tell Skip too, and you can come as well. I think I have something special planned for us."

"Sure, I'll pass along the message."

That night they walked in to see several bowls of popcorn and juice ready and the big TV was set up to play a movie. They all sat down and Ms. Martian and Skip were quite eager to begin the movie. Robin played it and started their first movie night. Ms. Martian was captivated and sucked in the movie as much as she could.

"_It began with the forging of the great rings- . . ."_

* * *

That night Robin lay in bed twitching. The phrase "good night's sleep" definitely would not have fit the situation he was in now. He dreamed he was standing in front of Titans Tower. He had just gotten back but had found that the Tower was half destroyed with large chunks of it missing. He walked inside but found that he was somehow walking through Mt. Justice. He got to the training room and stopped to look around. Then he heard footsteps behind him and turned to see another figure cloaked in shadow charging him. They began fighting and though Robin's adversary was well versed in fighting styles, he was nowhere near the level of Robin. As Robin pushed him back the person shouted in a young, angry voice "GET OUT OF HERE, THIS PLACE BELONGS TO ME!"

Robin didn't understand that in the slightest so he knocked the figure to the floor. "Who are you?" Robin grabbed the darkness cloaking the figure and pulled it off to reveal, _him_. He looked younger but the face staring back at him was definitely his own. As Robin looked confused the younger Robin began to laugh, not malevolently, but in a high pitched, childish laugh that annoyed Robin greatly.

Then Robin heard a voice that made him freeze, Raven's. It sounded as if it was calling from across a great distance.

"_Robin . . . Robin . . . Robin."_

Robin turned and suddenly the ground began collapsing from beneath him, he was falling. He could see the bottom, he was going to hit the bottom and die.

Then he woke up panting. The first thing he saw was Ms. Martian who leapt back at his abrupt return to consciousness. She had a sheepish look on her face.

"What were you doing in here?"

Looking bashful she explained "I was on my way back from the kitchen when felt your emotions. You were practically screaming in pain mentally."

Robin looked at her worried face and said "it's fine, just please don't do it again unless your sure you need to."

"Okay I won't" she got up and began heading towards the door but was stopped by Robin's voice.

"Say, why were you in the kitchen at one in the morning?"

She turned around and bashfully said "well, Skip got hungry in the middle of the night and I went to get him some chips."

"Skip is sleeping in your room?"

"Yes, is that a bad thing!"

"No, I just didn't expect it."

After Megan had gone one word resounded through Robin's head, "Silkie." Some of the parallels were amazing on this world.

* * *

Megan contemplated the weird experience she'd had scanning Robin. His mind had felt . . . different. She really didn't know how to describe it other than different. She guessed it was probably due to his serious nature. She'd never scanned anyone that serious before. It was probably nothing so she put it out of her mind.

* * *

_In this chapter, the sequence with Robin and Two-Face is a reference to a similar situation with Batman and Two-Face which happened in the manga book "Batman Child of Dreams."_

_I went into Robin's history with Batman a bit in this filler. Keep in mind that they both still love each other as Robin defiantly told Slade "I already have a father" but they both probably feel quite bitter towards each other._

_I hope I did a good job making the characters believable and relatable to. I'm not so sure one my ability to actually write my own material like this. I'd like your opinion on this chapter. I kinda felt like I had to force out the section at Mt. Justice._

_**And now a big surprise, I am going to attempt the mailbag concept gained from "TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne." I will be doing reviews from all chapters to start.**_

SuperninjaX

PLZ continue! I am very interested!

YAAAAY! thank you!

Ooh! Robin is special! I wonder how the team will react to finding out that ISN'T their robin

_Glad to have such an enthusiastic fan, there will definitely be some sparks flying when they do find out. And yes, Robin is very special. :)_

AmaraRae

good job

_Thanks_

The-Real-Deal37

That doesn't make sense. Isn't ch2 ur fic called Christianity.

_Yeah, I'm really sorry about that. It was right next to the chapter on the list so I accidentally posted that._

Nightlover2

can young justice come soon and then the teen titans

_Sorry, I can't really understand you._

BanannaSlapz517

Not long, but really good so far. I can't wait to see where this goes.

_I hope it's going in a direction you enjoy._

potterinu

First chapter is a bit on the short side.

I would like to see that filler chapter filling out Robin as a person. I'd like to see problems he goes though adjusting to a new body as well. Love your chapters getting longer.

_I hope this chapter fills out Robin good enough for you. I know, it kind of surprises me too when I see how long these chapters become._

TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne

I like what you've got here. An interesting twist on the YJ Pilot story.

My advice? Move it to the YJ section. Yeah, a few sourballs will whine and complain, but if you leave it in the crossover section no one will see this story (The crossover section is where stories go to die). I don't know how many hits per chapter you are getting now, but I'll bet you'll average a few hundred per chapter if you move it.

Also, I don't eventhink of this as a crossover. All the characters are DC characters, and Robin is even a YJ character, its not like you brought Raven or Starfire into the story!

Good luck!

A little criticism: This story is a little too similar to the plot in the show. I think that at some point TT-Robin should do something very different to veer the plot off into a new direction.

_I'll try that out as the story progresses. Thank you for the advice, it really helped me. I really like your Teen Titans meets Young Justice story, keep it up please!_

David-El

Not bad, but what happened to Earth-16's Robin?

_That's something I'm gonna dangle over your heads for awhile now "grins evilly."_

_I won't show that until later in the story._

T-Bone14

oohh! I LOVE IT!

_Thanks!_

Evil Soul

I'm really enjoying this story. I first saw it in the crossover section, but I only reveiw a handful of stories once or twice. Normally I just add them to my favorites. I've gotta say that this is something I've wondereed about - YJ Robin being more like TT Robin - and seeing this is great. I'd like to see eventually appearences from my favorite TT characters Raven, Slade and Red-X and their interactions with Robin, long with Robin interacting with YJ - the character interactions between Robin and the other members of the team on YJ leaves something to be desired for me. Please keep the updates coming, as this is one of the few stories I read that updates frequently.

I liked this chapter. I think you hit on everything that happened in the episode, and I enjoyed the good genome Skip. I also think that you should do the filler chapter, and hope you update again soon.

_Thanks for the advice and the compliment on Skip. I hope you like the character interactions in this chapter, tell me if you didn't and I'll work on them. I am fairly certain Slade from this universe will appear, I have something rather special planned for Raven ( it involves on of the episodes already made and aired), as for Red X he is harder because Robin would probably have to make the suit and have him steal it. I don't think Robin is stupid enough to make that mistake twice. As for the TT versions of these characters, don't worry, the Teen Titans are going to be far from absent in this story though you might not see them many times._

WiseGirl-AC

When do you think you'll have the chapter when they all realize that this isn't the same robin, cause that's the chapter I'm looking forward to the most!

_Sorry, might not happen for a good few chapters. Just today though I think I got an accurate plan on where it will be so be comforted, I'm not just writing blind._

titansfan1211

Fill in the blanks between the two epps would b fun, especially since that's never been explored yet, and it'd definately help further the plot. (it'd also help give you something to write before running out of material, seeing as we've got a few weeks till a new ep) lolz. Awesomesauce!

_I hope you like this filler, I am a bit underconfident about my ability to write my own material (bet YJ Robin would love the word "underconfident.")_

KaliAnn

Wonderful! I love how you've created some new characters and this Robin will definitely be adding that bo to his arsenal!

I love this! Its incredible, but I want to see more of this Robin trying to add what he likes into what is expected of him. Maybe even show off his glider cape or r-cycle!

_Well, now all that's left is the glider cape. Sorry he didn't really get to use them in this chapter. Thanks for the compliments._

* * *

_I hope you all enjoy this, I felt like the Mt. Justice portion with Robin was forced out of me. _

_As another Fanficer once said "reviews are the currency of fanfics" This is my biggest money spinner then so please make sure I don't go broke, drop a review please._

_Good day and God Bless, :)_

_Sincerely, LordGodsServant._


	7. Welcome to Happy Harbor

_Italics mean telepathic talk and talk by machines. Just to clarify._

* * *

On July 17 in Star City something illegal was going on. It was just after dark on the docks as a group of men unloaded crates of weapons. As they got out the first one an arrow hit the ground between them. A second later it released a cloud of gas, causing the men holding the crate to drop it while they tried to stop coughing. The case sprang open and pistols spilled out. One rolled to a man, obviously the leader, and he grabbed it up. He aimed it around, looking for the source of the arrow. Then he saw a red-haired young adult dressed in red and holding a bow. He had a quiver of arrows on his back.

"YOU AGAIN! I'M STARTING TO GET INSULTED GREEN ARROW ISN'T MESSING UP MY OPERATIONS PERSONALLY!"

He shot and Speedy leapt out of the way. After dodging several other shots he pulled out an arrow and expertly shot it. It hit the gun the man was holding and it exploded. The man must have had some sort of upgrade to protect him because the explosion didn't appear to hurt him. His suit however was another story, it was in tatters.

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT I PAY FOR A SUIT IN MY SIZE?"

He turned to his goons "scorch the earth boys!"

The men raised pistols but what looked like a flash of yellow grabbed some away while several Birdarangs took care of the rest. Aqualad landed and drew some water whips. He knocked the hired men out by slamming them into various objects like the ground. As Speedy walked up next to him he commented "the cave has everything the team needs."

Robin wasn't as enthusiastic as the others about recruiting Speedy, he was more concerned with incapacitating the gang boss. He threw a cryo Birdarang at the man who resembled a lesser version of the Hulk. The projectile hit but it only encased the front part of his chest. He laughed as he broke the ice. As he charged at Robin, Robin got a glance at what the other two were doing; they were just sitting there and talking with Speedy. They were definitely not as effective as his team back home, sure they might get distracted once in awhile but usually they worked like a well-oiled machine.

The crime boss threw several hits at Robin who dodged with ease. He then jumped up and kicked the man in the face. While he fell back with much snarling Robin looked back again at the group of three young heroes. They were still engaged in conversation, Speedy appeared to be refusing and the others appeared to be trying to convince him. Robin got so angry that he shouted "HEY! WOULD YOU PLEASE HELP ME HERE!"

The three appeared startled for a moment, and then they sprung into action. Speedy shot off several arrows that exploded against the man. He simply laughed as they caused no damage.

"TELL ARROW HE SHOULDN'T SEND BOYS TO DO A MAN'S JOB!"

Speedy drew another arrow and the man mockingly spread himself out, fearing nothing. Speedy shot and the arrow, instead of exploding, expanded into dense foam. He was trapped in seconds.

Robin looked up to where the others were. Speedy was walking into a dark space between two containment units. He turned to say something to the others; Robin only caught the last part ". . . I don't want any part of it!"

Robin felt a bit downcast, but not as much as the others probably did. They all went to the teleporter's secret location and went home; Robin of course, went to Mt. Justice.

Robin stayed up late that night. He was poking around the mountain's internal security systems. There were safeguards that kept the team from accessing a lot of its functions. Robin began hacking.

It was a tedious job, the tower had a lot of good security and if he set off an alarm it would probably end poorly for him. Finally after 20 minutes of work he fully got into the system. He quickly disabled any functions that might point to his presence in the system. He then set up programs that were extremely hard to find even if you knew what you were looking for. The programs were like a mini-virus, they infected all functions of the tower and other related things. In time they might even be able to infect the Watchtower and other League related places. He got done around 11 o'clock and then he got out while erasing the evidence of his presence once more to be safe. Then he went to bed.

* * *

The next day he awoke at 6. He had trained his body to be able to work on receiving little rest at certain times. It came in handy whenever they had a night job. First he trained in the gym for about an hour and then he took a shower. He then set to work investigating the crimes in the nearby town Happy Harbor. After about an hour of work on that he went and started making a breakfast of bacon and eggs for himself. As he was making it he imagined Beast Boy's face if he saw it. He would probably say something like "DUDE! Do you know how many pigs and chickens gave their lives for that meal?"

When he was done Robin sat down in front of the TV and turned it to the news. He had finished his breakfast and was watching a story on video game thefts right there in Happy Harbor when he felt his alarm chip in his utility belt begin vibrating. He picked it out and it said that the teleporter was being used. He got up and walked out to the main room. Coming out of the teleporter was two figures. As Ms. Martian and Superboy came in Robin recognized the two as Kid Flash and Aqualad. Kid Flash rushed forward and began shaking Robin's hand.

"Hey Rob! When did you get here?"

"I live here."

"I thought you lived . . . wherever Batman lives."

"I like to live in my base."

"Really, won't you miss Batman?"

"NO!"

"Okay, jeez what's wrong with your utility belt today?"

Aqualad shook Robin's hand next "are you aware of our first mission assignment?"

"No, how would I know?"

"I thought that because you are the Batman's apprentice, you would know when we would be assigned missions."

"I'm not that tied to Batman!"

Aqualad looked a bit startled at how vehemently Robin denied involvement with Batman. Then Ms. Martian slapped her forehead "hello Megan! Red Tornado's arriving here any minute, maybe since he's our supervisor he'll have a mission for us."

They all gathered around the radar screen. Sure enough, they could see Red Tornado coming in from the skies. They all rushed out to the entrance.

Red Tornado landed as the five young heroes gathered in front of him.

"_Greetings, is there a reason you five have intercepted me outside of the cave?"_

"We hoped you had a mission for us."

"_Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibility."_

Robin wasn't in any big hurry to get their first solo mission, he'd be ready when they did get the mission but until then he was content to search for ways home and make sure he was safe in this universe.

"But the League has missions constantly, almost every day, why-?"

"_You shall be tested soon enough, for now I suggest you enjoy each other's company."_

"This team is not a social club."

"_No, but I am told that social interactions can be and important team-building exercise. Perhaps an adequate way to pass the time would be for those of you new here to familiarize yourselves with the cave."_

With that he walked passed them and into the mountain. He was scanned as he walked in.

"_Recognized, Red Tornado."_

As he was walking in Kid Flash tapped Robin on the shoulder and said in an annoyed voice "keep busy! Does he think we're falling for this?"

Ms. Martian heard and said "Ooh, I'll find out!"

She focused in on Red Tornado but after a moment she said "I forgot, he's a robot, inorganic, I cannot read his mind."

"Nice try though, so you know what I'm thinking right now?"

Robin snorted, once again, same old Wally West. Aqualad looked down and then, with a rather disappointed look on his face said "and now we tour the clubhouse."

"Well, Robin, Superboy, and I live here. We could play tour guide."

Everyone looked at Superboy and he said "don't look at me."

"We won't, a private tour sounds much more fun" Kid Flash said in a voice that quite obviously was directed at Ms. Martian. Robin spoke next "I think that as a _team_ we all should go."

"C'mon man!"

Robin leveled his eyes at Kid Flash and almost immediately he held up his arms and said "Okay, fine, team-building."

They all walked into the mountain. Ms. Martian was the one playing tour guide mostly but if she needed help Robin would chip in a bit. They talked until Superboy smelled something burning. Then Ms. Martian remembered her cookies and flew off to the kitchen, the rest of them followed. Robin was into the kitchen first and he saw Ms. Martian levitating a pan of what looked like charcoal briquettes.

"I was trying Granny Jone's recipe from episode 17 of-, heh heh, never mind."

"Thanks for trying, it was very thoughtful, although Flash junior doesn't seem to mind very much."

They all turned to see Kid Flash eating some of the cookies; he stopped and said "I have a serious metabolism."

"I'll . . . make more."

"It was sweet of you to make these."

"Thanks Aqualad."

"We're off duty, call me Kaldur'Ahm, actually my friends call me Kaldur."

"I'm Wally; see I already trust you with my secret ID, unlike boy wonder here, Batman forbade him from telling anyone his real name."

"No he didn't, I just choose not to!"

"Whatever."

"Mine's no secret. It's M'Gann M'Orrz but you can just call me Megan, it's an Earth name and I'm on Earth."

Robin noticed Superboy get up and start walking, he also noticed Megan looking straight at him. She must've done something wrong because Superboy suddenly tensed up and grunted, then he looked at her two seconds later and shouted "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

Megan's kind face turned to shock as her mind expanded to the rest of the boys.

"_What's wrong? Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically!"_

Aqualad and Kid Flash both began to lean over in discomfort; Robin however seemed perfectly at ease. Upon noticing his comrade's reactions however he said "Megan, you need to stop!"

She cut the connection.

"Humans cannot normally communicate telepathically; our main form of communication is auditory, through talking. Here, mind reading is considered to be an extreme invasion of privacy."

"But you're fine with me telepathically talking to you!"

"Well I'm used to it, but most people aren't. You have to understand that some things are different here on Earth."

Ms. Martian nodded and watched Superboy as he stalked out of the room. Skip came in and climbed up onto the counter. He sniffed the cookies and said to Ms. Martian "_I'm sure you'll get it next time, I really like your cookies."_

"_Thanks Skip."_

The team left the Kitchen. Ms. Martian looked for Superboy and found him sitting on a couch in another room.

"Superboy, I- . . . I just wanted to-"

"Don't talk to me."

Ms. Martian looked hurt but she respected his wish and left. A few minutes later he rejoined the group.

Suddenly Ms. Martian slapped her forehead "Hello Megan! I know something I can show you that's really exciting!"

She led to the hanger and inside was an egg shaped device.

"It's my Martian Bioship."

"Cute, not aerodynamic, but cute."

"It's at rest silly, I'll wake it."

She gestured her hand and the ship morphed into a more arrowlike shape. They all got in and sat in certain seats. Robin sat in the seat to the right of the pilot seat, Kid Flash to the left, Aqualad sat in the left front seat and Superboy in the right. Skip was walking towards the front of the ship when Superboy gave him a death glare and said "stay away from me!"

Skip instead went and hopped into a small seat that formed beside Robin.

"Red Tornado, open the Bay doors."

The doors opened and the ship flew out. Its speed and precision was astounding. Megan piloted the ship by what looked like two glowing orbs.

"Incredible" Robin observed, he'd have to scan this ship and take samples for reference if he ever got home.

"Yeah, she sure is" Kid Flash said in a dreamy voice. Robin grinned mischievously and said in a loud voice "what was that Wally?" Wally blushed deeply as every eye in the ship turned towards him, he muttered "I m-meant the sh-ship, which is a she just like every other ship."

Robin grinned when he looked away. He saw Aqualad and Superboy whispering up front. More of Aqualad appearing to be telling Superboy something. He looked at Ms. Martian and saw her downtrodden face as she looked at Superboy. He was about to speak when he remembered that Superboy had super-hearing. He looked at Skip and then nodded towards Ms. Martian. Skip nodded and his horns lit up. Megan looked towards Robin as the telepathic connection was established "_don't worry, he'll come around."_

"_He doesn't seem to like me very much."_

"_I've known several people to go off on rants and lose their tempers a lot more seriously than he did. Even when I shouted back at them they came around."_

"_But, what if he hates me?"_

"_If he hated you do you think he would've come along for the ride in the bio-ship? Even if he was just following the crowd I saw Aqualad talking to him just a few moments ago. I bet he was giving him advice on how to apologize."_

"_How do you know?"_

"_It's a viable explanation, I may be wrong though. But here's a word of comfort that should prove to you that he doesn't hate you. Did you see him smile at you when you first met?"_

"_Yeah, but he was probably only to be polite."_

"_That was the second only time I had seen him smile and the first had been for Superman. He likes you, rest assured."_

Megan seemed comforted by their conversation and turned back to the controls. Robin noticed that Kid Flash had been watching them and was making fake retching motions behind Megan's back. He fixed his eyes on him and Kid Flash immediately stopped and avoided his gaze by looking out the window. Behind his back Robin grinned, the Bat-Glare was one of the things Batman had taught him that was extremely fun to use.

Megan suddenly said in a bright voice "here's another thing the ship can do" a screen was pulled down that showed the outside of the ship. The ship suddenly seemed to fade out of existence, it didn't exactly turn invisible but seemed to use the ability one relates to Chameleons of blending in with the background.

"Camouflage mode."

"_Nice, say when do you think I can try to drive the ship. I've been practicing a simulation with it. I think it likes me."_

"_Maybe someday."_

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

Everyone's eyes flew to Superboy who was glaring at Skip.

"_I'm sorry I-!"_

"JUST STOP!"

Skip cut the connection and shrank back into his seat.

"Don't think I've forgotten what you are, you're one of the ones who were trying to raise me to be a weapon! Don't think I will ever forget what your kind tried to turn me into! I don't like you being here but I'll deal with it, but it would be best for you if you just stayed out of my way!"

He turned back to the front and crossed his arms. Skip simply sat staring off into space in his seat. The atmosphere remained tense until a transmission from the mountain came in.

"_Red Tornado to Martian Bio-Ship, an emergency alert has been sounded in the Happy Harbor power plant. I suggest you all investigate, covertly. I am sending coordinates now. Tornado out."_

"Coordinates received, setting course to Happy Harbor powerplant."

The ship sped off to its destination. As they neared it they all were looking at the power plant. It wasn't until they heard the wind howling that they turned around and saw a large tornado barreling down on top of them. They were caught in it for about 30 seconds; it was like a stomach churning ride. Then Megan finally managed to break free of the twister and land in an unaffected portion of the parking lot.

They all began to drop out until Skip said to everyone except Superboy _"what should I do?"_

They pondered for a few seconds until Kid Flash said "stay with the ship, make sure it isn't stolen."

Skip didn't look too happy about this but agreed anyway. They all dropped to the pavement and Aqualad shouted over the winds "ROBIN, ARE TORNADOES COMMON IN NEW ENGLAND?"

"I DON'T THINK SO, THEN AGAIN, I HAVEN'T SEEN ENOUGH TO MAKE AN ACCURATE JUDGEMENT!"

Robin assessed the Tornado; it appeared to have shrunk and was moving inside the building.

"Okay, here's the plan we-" Robin started, but he was interrupted by Kid Flash.

"Sorry, gotta run!" He sped off towards the building with Superboy hot on his heels.

Robin stared in annoyance after him, then turned as Ms. Martian asked "so what's the plan?"

"I'll go in the front and distract the intruder or intruders, you two will sneak around to the back and when I shout "Villain" then you'll attack with everything you've got."

Aqualad and Ms. Martian nodded and sped off around the building. Robin quickly took off his shirt, he barely ever took off his costume and now was not exception, he was wearing it beneath his normal outfit. He then hurried in his side and took stock of the situation. Kid Flash and Superboy where currently being tossed around like ragdolls by a large robot about two heads taller than Superboy. The robot was colored red and black with blue eyes. It looked on amusedly as it manipulated mini cyclones that tossed Kid Flash and Superboy about. Robin saw a door behind and to the right of the robot and saw Ms. Martian and Aqualad's heads poking around it, waiting for him to give them the signal.

"So, you got a name or are you just called the robot!"

"_My apologies, you may call me Mr. Twister."_

Robin threw a Birdarang at the robot and it zoomed to the side of it. Getting an idea, Robin began to through his Birdarangs in a pattern so that they slowly forced the robot towards the door.

"_I must confess I am rather disappointed, I was expecting real heroes, not children to be trying to stop me. Have you no adult supervision?"_

"I don't really think we need supervision, I can function quite well without Batman!"

"_That is a foreign thought; it seems unnatural for Robin to be without Batman. I think you should stick to the status quo."_

This seemed to make Robin quite angry, but he had enough presence of mind to shout "VILLAIN!"

While Kid Flash, Superboy and Mr. Twister looked confused Ms. Martian and Aqualad leapt into action. Aqualad made a water hammer and charged it with electricity. He swung and it connected with Mr. Twister's back. The robot slammed into the wall and twitched for a few seconds as electricity coursed across his body. Those few seconds was all it took for Ms. Martian to lift him with telekinesis and slam him repeatedly against another steel wall.

Then Kid Flash zoomed in front of Ms. Martian, "I'll take over from here, I'll show you how a real hero does it." This distraction forced Ms. Martian to drop Mr. Twister and the robot got up quicker then you would've thought possible. As the heroes charged he blasted them all back with an incredible burst of wind and they all hit various walls. Unfortunately for Ms. Martian she hit a wall headfirst and collapsed unconscious. As her teammates rushed to her side Mr. Twister said in a self satisfied voice "_I hope I have made my point sufficiently. If you attempt to interfere again I shall not be so kind."_

He then took off and flew out the back of the building. The team hurried Ms. Martian to the ship and laid her on a bed Skip had the ship make. Just after Robin had sent a quick message to Tornado about their plight Kid Flash strode up to him with an annoyed look on his face.

"Yeah great plan Rob, thanks to you Megan got hurt. I hope this teaches you that I'm better at planning and that I should be leader of the team."

Robin was nearly speechless, behind Kid Flash, Aqualad, Superboy, and Skip watched with interest. Robin stared Kid Flash down until he seemed to deflate under the severity of Robin's glare.

"Let me point out several simple facts to that big brain that you don't seem to use. 1. She wouldn't have gotten hurt if you hadn't distracted her. 2. My plan would've worked if you and Superboy hadn't rushed off without any game plan whatsoever. And 3; you where being jerked around like a puppet on a string before I came along!"

Kid Flash's mouth was open but before he could speak again Robin finished his statement "now if you'll excuse me I have a job to do."

He then jumped out of the ship and rushed off towards the Twister now circling around the harbor.

* * *

Batman was in the Batcave running tests on a Phase Oscillator he'd created. The League had had some experience with other universes. Batman himself had personally made sure that an evil version of himself hadn't destroyed a whole Earth and quite possibly every other Earth. The incident had started with the League being called because Lex Luthor had apparently been caught and held in a police station while they had jailed Luthor several months before. Once they had brought the Luthor to the watchtower and he had explained that he was from an alternate universe where most or all of the roles were reversed. The Justice League was known as the Injustice League and practically held their Earth in the palm of their hand. Luthor had begged the Justice League for their help and all but Batman had agreed to help.

Batman had stayed behind and had worked on the Watchtower but upon activating internal security, became aware of four intruders. He fought the evil version of Wonder Woman and three superpowered henchmen. He had just managed to follow Superwoman (as the villainess had been called) and one of her henchmen back into their own universe, which was the good Luthor's universe, when he was made Superwoman's toy to play around with.

After she had toyed with him for around 30 minutes the League came to the rescue. They had then made their final assault upon the Injustice League's headquarters on the moon. The Injustice League had made a bomb great enough to destroy the whole world and possibly the whole universe. Ultraman (Superman's alternate and leader of the League) had wanted to use it to blackmail his world into submission, but Owlman had other plans. He used a modified version of Luthor's Phase Oscilator and had taken the bomb to Earth Prime, the original Earth, the one that started every version of reality.

Owlman had wanted to destroy Earth Prime because he believed it would destroy every other Earth, being the original one. The basis for this was that he had come to the conclusion that every time anything ever made a choice the universe branches into each possible choice that the chooser could've made. So in essence, nothing really mattered. Batman hadn't been sure whether Owlman had been correct but he wasn't going to take that chance. He managed to send the bomb, along with Owlman, to a world that was frozen and uninhabited. There, it exploded.

Then he had returned home with the League after finishing the job on the alternate Earth. He had kept tabs on other Earths and had come to the conclusion that Owlman had been wrong and that there was such a thing as freedom of choice. Now, he was combing the Universe's, trying to find the right one. If he reasoned with himself it wasn't very likely that he would ever find the right Universe, for the simple reason that this new Robin had the same Quantum Signature as his Robin. Like your DNA could tell where your parents came from your Quantum Signature could tell what Universe you were from. However, there were literally millions of Earths our there, possible even more. Finding one singular one without any real evidence was like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

He wondered what his Robin was doing in the other universe. He only hoped that he was alright and had gotten into contact with the Justice League there. Batman didn't feel like telling his friends about the change in Robin. For one, the League might demand that Robin come and stay onboard the Watchtower for interrogation and Batman felt that Robin had proven himself enough. Another reason was that there were some within the League that viewed any other hero organization not under the League a threat. Batman didn't know if this view would extend to other Universes but he wasn't about to take that chance. This Robin being the leader of an organization that didn't want anything to do with the League might not sit well with them, they might think that Robin was plotting to corrupt their young heroes as well.

One last reason was that he in a way respected the alternate Robin. The arguments he had made after the Penguin case made Batman start to see things in a whole new light. This Robin had become his own man; he had taken on the burden of being self-sufficient and had risen to the challenge magnificently. He had made a League of his own and had defeated every opponent he ever came across.

So, for now at least, Batman kept his peace, and continued to look for Robin's universe to rectify the situation.

* * *

Robin had gotten close enough to see what Mr. Twister was doing specifically. He was tearing around the waterfront and the harbor. Robin pulled out a Birdarang and threw it straight at the back of the robot's head. It hit it and the machine turned angrily around. It saw him and laughed, and then it threw two large twisters at him. As he dodged around them he saw a yellow and red blur, Superboy, and Aqualad coming to help. He grinned.

Kid Flash just tried to charge Mr. Twister outright to start with. Of course the villain saw him and blasted him away. Superboy and Aqualad tried a different approach, while Superboy jumped up high to try and distract the robot, Aqualad charged in at ground level. It was a good strategy but unfortunately it didn't work. Mr. Twister caught them both up in cyclones and flung them into the harbor. As they surfaced Robin shouted "GUYS, WE NEED TO COORDINATE OUR ATTACKS BETTER! WE SHOULD ALL BE ATTACKING AT ONE TIME!"

Kid Flash ignored him and kept going after Mr. Twister. Aqualad and Superboy ran up to him. Superboy looked a bit resentful but ready to hear him out, Aqualad looked ready to take the orders.

"OKAY, I'LL DISTRACT HIM USING MY BIRDARANGS AND YOU TWO TAKE HIS BACK AND TRY TO GET IN CLOSE TO FINISH HIM OFF!"

They both nodded and ran to either side of Robin. Robin began throwing Birdarangs at Mr. Twister to get his attention. It almost worked on several occasions but Kid Flash kept zipping around the field and drawing Mr. Twister's gaze elsewhere, most often onto the others. Kid Flash also refused to listen to Robin whenever he tried to inform him of the plan. Robin set his mind to work on another plan while fighting on. Maybe he would get lucky.

Ms. Martian woke up in the Bio-Ship. She sat up groaning and saw that she was alone except for Skip.

"_Uggh, what happened?"_

"_You were knocked unconscious by Mr. Twister. The others carried you back here and then left to try and beat the robot. They're currently by the harbors."_

Megan got herself up and looked at the viewscreen that was zoomed in on the far off harbor. Then she lightly slapped herself on the forhead.

"_Hello Megan, I need to radio Red Tornado for help!"_

She contacted the base and explained the situation to Red Tornado, when she was done he thought a bit and then replied.

"_I believe you should attempt to solve this on your own."_

"But this robot is unbeatable!"

"_Everything evil has a weakness, though it is interesting that this Mr. Twister shares my powers. Perhaps he is meant to find me."_

Megan nodded, and then an idea came to her. She put the Bio-Ship in camouflage mode and flew over to the carnage. Then she mentally contacted Robin and told him the idea.

The rest of the team was fighting hard when they heard Ms. Martian's voice inside their heads _"hello, is everybody online?"_

Superboy grimaced "what did we tell you?"

"_I know, I know, but we have a plan now. A good plan!"_

"_We?"  
_Robin's voice sounded inside their heads "_we."_

"_No, no way am I going for any plan that he made!"_

"_Please Wally?"_

"_. . . fine, but only because you asked me Mega-licious!"_

"_Alright, here's the plan."_

Mr. Twister saw an object on the horizon appear on the horizon. It grew into the form of Red Tornado. He landed and said "_well Mr. Twister, it appears I shall have to step in to handle this."_

"_I am so glad to hear of it, these whelps were hardly a challenge at all."_

The two exchanged several small twisters until Red Tornado was knocked down. Mr. Twister landed beside him and inserted several cables onto his head.

"_The reprogramming shouldn't take long."_

Then Red Tornado's head morphed into Ms. Martian and she remarked "longer than you might think."

She sprang away just as every one of Robin's explosives went off at that particular point right under Mr. Twister.

He was flung sky-high. As he sailed up, the Bio-Ship appeared with Skip piloting it. He only said one simple thing.

"_I'm whelmed."_

Then at his command, the Bio-Ship fired and its beams slammed Mr. Twister into the harbor. In the water, Aqualad slammed him right back out with an electrically charged anchor. And of course water only makes electricity all the more dangerous.

On the ground outside the harbor, a tornado being generated by Kid Flash spun him through the air and right into Superboy's waiting fists. He slammed his fists into the robot's stomach, face, and anywhere else he could reach. He then jumped away as Robin threw every freeze grenade he had.

The final stroke came when Ms. Martian grabbed him with telekinesis and ripped every limb right off his body, leaving nothing but a severely dented torso.

They all gathered and the chest cavity of the robot opened and out crept a brown haired middle aged man.

"Ms. Martian, scan his thoughts."

"But you told me not to?"

"He's a bad guy. Usually it's alright with them."

Ms. Martian tried but then said "he has no thoughts, he's a robot too."

Robin whipped out what looked like a taser and fired it at the person. It pumped electricity into him and deactivated it within 4 seconds. They all sat panting, not believing that they'd just won the battle.

* * *

They had finished talking to Red Tornado and it was just the team left in the main room. Aqualad looked at the others and said "I think we should decide on the leader of this team, today we were weak because we were divided."

"Oh so you want to be leader now?"

"No, I believe Robin is to be our leader."

"C'MON!"

"He is the one that led us to victory today."

"Well, Ms. Martian helped."

"Nah, I gave you the idea, you made the plan."

"I propose we put it to a vote. All in favor."

Megan and Kaldur raised their hands. It was a tie. Superboy shrugged "I just think we should wait awhile longer, this was just one mission."

"Alright."

Kaldur and Kid flash began walking out. Kid Flash remarked "Speedy was so wrong, this team thing-."

"Might just work out."

Robin left to examine the parts of both robots he had salvaged. Superboy looked at Megan and said in a soft voice "sorry." Then he walked away. She smiled.

Then Skip hopped up on the table they had been around and Superboy looked back and gave him a death glare. Skip shrank back.

Megan looked at him and said "hello Megan, we didn't give you a vote!"

"_Its fine, I stayed out so Superboy wouldn't become mad."_

"_Want to come make cookies with me?"_

"_Sure."_

Then they too walked out of the room.

* * *

Robin got off the computer and shut it down. It was getting late and he had to go to bed. He had just been researching Kent Nelson, this world's Dr. Fate; or rather it's former Dr. Fate. He hoped to meet him soon to get some help on going home. He'd also noted a sudden stop of the Venom supplies coming out of Santa Prisca.

Before he went to bed, Robin prayed, something he hadn't done in awhile. He felt comforted afterwards and read a Bible he had bought earlier that week. Then he went to sleep.

He dreamed that he was at Titans Tower and the Titan's were having a party. He saw Beast Boy trying to subtly encourage Raven to dance with him. Cyborg and Bumblebee danced along with Kid Flash and Jinx. Then Starfire was tugging his hands and he, smiling, allowed himself to be led out onto the dance floor. Then, he spent the rest of the night in Heaven, with Starfire.

If anyone could've seen him while he slept, they would've wondered what would make the Boy Wonder smile so widely.

* * *

_Sorry it took so long for this update. Where I live we had an enormous rainfall the week before this one and our Sub-Pump stopped working. Thus most of the laminate in our basement got flooded and unfortunately, my room, as well as the computer I type the updates on is in the downstairs._

_Thus, I had to spend a lot of last week and even some of this week tearing out the walls and flooring downstairs and moving everything around and out. It was incredibly tiring._

_On the subject of the story, I will not be doing another filler between episodes for the simple reason that the next episode (Drop Zone) takes place the very next day/night after this one._

_I hope you enjoyed the changes in this chapter, the event Batman is referring to is another movie made by DC called "Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths." You should try it, it's very good._

_Now for the mailbag:_

KaliAnn  
Thank you for making me part of the mail bag. I liked how in this chapter you showed the difference with Robin, but maintained civility with Batman. I'm guess that only his brain or soul was transferred. Skip and Miss Martian are cute, but can we have some brotherly love between him and Superboy?

_I decided to have Superboy be resentful of Skip for being a Genome, is that alright with you? I hope I explained it well enough._

WiseGirl-AC

This is coming together fantastically! I love it!

_Thank you, keep reviewing please._

SuperninjaX

Are you going to do another story of whats happening to the YJ robin? If not this story still ROCKS MY SOCKS!

_Sorry, I will not because that will be explained later in the story._

potterinu

Since this universes Robin seems still be there in the back of his mind what happened to TTuniverse Robins body?

_Yet another question I will dangle over your heads, mwuahahahaha! Seriously, to tell you that would be to spoil part of the story. _

_Sorry._

TheNightwingfan

Just finished reading and I must say that this is pretty great! Robin seems to be insanely grouchy though; I kind of miss happy/sillier Robin...hmm that's so strange I used to be head-over-heels in love with Teen Titans' Robin!

What I really enjoy about this is that you depict the differences between the two Robins' perfectly and you don't lay on Robin's grouchiness too thick. I feel bad for Titan's Robin; his Batman seems like such a jerk. If I were TT Robin, I wouldn't be too excited to come home to a unfair Batman…I'd probably steal the other Batman hahaha(:

Anyways, good job! Can't wait for more.

_Thank you; you encourage me, especially because this last chapter was almost purely my own work. You also have encouraged me that I am doing Robin Justice._

_Remember, Batman and Robin still probably consider each other father and son, but all that hostility that has been built up over the years must eventually be dealt with. Maybe in a sequel if I feel like writing one. :)_

Evil Soul

Loved this chapter. The diffences between YJ Robin and TT Robin seem more apparent now. Hope you'll keep the updates coming, I really want to read more soon.

_Thanks, that means I'm doing my job well and that I actually have talent outside the realm of fanfiction._

* * *

_Well, I hope you enjoyed that, keep the reviews coming; I absolutely am starving for reviews. (Not meaning to complain to those of you who did review, your awesome.) One last thing, when I cut out a scene , it is usually because it doesn't change, doesn't change much, or is unnessecary._

_Good Day and God Bless :)_

_Sincerely, LordGodsServant_


	8. Drop Zone

It was the day after the Mr. Twister incident. Robin was feeling unusually happy, maybe it had something to do with the dream he'd had. After reading his Bible for an hour he exercised in the Gymnasium. Then he made an extra large breakfast of Bacon, Eggs, and Pancakes. I still was relatively early so after he was done eating he left a note to the others saying to help themselves.

Then he went to the lab containing Mr. Twister and began work on studying the robot. He had an idea that maybe if Slade decided to use massive amounts of Sladebots again he might use copies of the robot to even the score.

He worked on the robot until noon and then he thought about lunch. He decided to order pizza as a surprise to the others. He ordered Dominoes to make 6 plain cheese pizzas for him to pick up, enough for lunch and supper. He dressed in civilian clothes over his costume and sped off to pick up the pizza. As he was going he reminisced about the Titan's experience with pizza. The most obvious thing to remember was, obviously, how Beast Boy and Cyborg had continually been at loggerheads over what toppings the pizza should have. Beast Boy, if he could've had his way would've had them all eat Tofu 24/7. Cyborg wanted meat 24/7 so obviously they couldn't come to any agreement whatsoever, they were too smart to even think of something called compromising. Raven really didn't care what was on the pizza and picked off whatever she didn't like. Starfire had some memorable moments as well. When they first went out for pizza she insisted on things like breath mints and mustard on the pizza. Even after Robin had corrected her she had had some trouble with what was normal for putting on a pizza. Robin had finall solved the constant arguments by having each Titans order their own pizza.

Once Robin got back to the headquarters he quickly shed his clothes for his uniform. Then he called the others in. As they came in, he introduced them to the pizzas. Megan squealed with joy at being able to taste another Earth food and Skip was thankful. Superboy, as usual, had a deadpan look. After giving Robin a hug, Megan tried some of the pizza and proclaimed it to be one of the tastiest things she had ever eaten. Skip said nothing but Superboy said it was alright.

The rest of the day Robin spent either studying the robots, studying Kent Nelson/Dr. Fate, or working out. When he worked out for the first time he pushed his body to his max by doing a set of weightlifting and acrobatics that he'd specially constructed for himself to keep his physical prowess and to continually have it increasing. His minimum time for doing it was one hour a day doing nonstop exercise. At times he did it for three hours, his max at his best physical prowess had been five hours and 52 minutes but he had been bone tired afterwards and had had to let Cyborg run the team for the next week as he recovered. Now however, he found himself starting to feel tired early into the workout. He ignored it and continued on, but after 30 minutes he was panting and wheezing, he couldn't understand why. Still he continued on but at 42 minutes he had to take a minutes rest. After finishing an hour he collapsed to the ground, groaning with tiredness. He would have to structure a training program for this new Robin's body he appeared to have landed in. It was nowhere near his level of proficiency and he felt that even he could've done a lot better. Even though he was younger than Robin, Robin felt that this Robin could've done a whole lot better.

He took a shower and then took a well deserved nap. He woke up and was working on devising a new training program when he received a notice from his little IPod like gadget that several people were coming through the teleporter. After ascertaining that they were friendly he returned to his work until he was called into the main room by Batman.

The others were lined up and Batman and Red Tornado were standing in front of several screens depicting what he recognized as Isla Santa Prisca. He took his place between Kid Flash and Ms. Martian.

Batman nodded at him as he entered and then turned to the screens and began outlining the mission.

"Isla Santa Prisca. This island nation is the primary source of a dangerous and illegal neo-steroid strength enhancing drug. It is sold under the street name "Venom." Within the last few weeks all shipments of Venom have been mysteriously cut off. However infrared scans show that the factory is still operating at full capacity. This is a covert mission, so your job is to get in, pick up what intelligence you can, and then get out. If the League feels that the situation is warranting of interference we will but that's not your job."

Robin already knew all this and was wondering what they would find once they reached the island.

"The team will be deployed from two drop zones and will meet up from there to gather intelligence. Remember, this is a covert mission."

Kid Flash raised his hand "Oooh, can I lead this mission?"

Batman looked at him and Wally seemed to curl in on himself as he gulped. Everyone knew it wasn't in your best interests to annoy the Batman. Batman seemed to look at Robin as he said "work that out between you."

Robin, nodded, understanding that Batman fully expected him to take control of the situation. He was probably the best at reading the Dark Knight's emotions.

* * *

They were approaching Santa Prisca and were about 25 miles away when Robin requested that Ms. Martian stop the ship.

"Dude, what's the holdup?" Wally complained.

"I have a plan, I think we should-."

"Rob, didn't you learn from the time that Megan got hurt that your plans just aren't the best?"

Robin slowly looked at Wally and he promptly shut his mouth.

"Now, I suggest we split the team and land at several different areas. Aqualad, after you disable the sensors you shall swim around to the harbor and investigate. Batman said all shipping in these waters has been stopped and I'd like to see for how long. Ms. Martian, after the sensors are disabled and we fly in; we shall use the ships scanners to locate a patrol. You shall follow them and attempt to glean information from them that may be of use. Skip will fly overhead and keep and eye in the sky. Kid Flash, you shall-."

"Dude, Batman already gave us a plan!"

"Do you have a better plan?"

Wally folded his arms and looked away. Robin turned back to the others and said "Superboy, Kid Flash, and I shall continue along the original path Batman laid out for us."

"I think it is an intelligent plan" Aqualad said in his deep voice, Robin was reminded of Cyborg whenever he took his role as second in command of the Titans. He fit the role well.

"I like it too, your idea with Mr. Twister sure was a smashing success" Megan chimed in.

"_I concur; we shall gather much more information this way."_

Superboy shrugged and said "I'll follow along this time. I want to see if you really are a good leader or if Mr. Twister was just a fluke and you don't know anything."

After a small silence Kid Flash finally turned and said "fine, but I still say this is a bad idea."

They continued on and finally, they arrived at Santa Prisca. Aqualad got up and got ready to drop, engaging his stealth tech. Robin gave him what looked like a Flash Drive to plug into a computer before he dropped and he put it in his pocket. They dropped him and waited for confirmation that they could move in. Then Robin heard Skip say to him "_I bet the guys manning the defenses aren't gonna be whelmed if they ever find out we got in."_

"_Where did you get the word whelmed?"_

"_You, don't you remember?"_

"_What? No?"_

"_When we were breaking out of Cadmus I heard you mentally say "that guy is not whelmed, not whelmed at all" I thought it was rather funny. Oh and another thing, I have to talk to you about something to do with Cadmus."_

"_I don't know why I thought that but please don't mention that you got it from me, Wally would never let me live it down and would pretend that I was going crazy."_

"_Sure, no problem."_

The bio-ship began to move in; Aqualad must've radioed in while they were talking. They flew over the island until heat scanners picked up a squad of soldiers below them. The ship was in stealth mode so the soldiers didn't see them. Megan morphed her clothing to be black and dropped out the bottom while becoming camouflaged.

Skip guided the ship on towards its next destination.

* * *

Aqualad had reached the harbor. He stayed underwater and swam underneath the ships. He was virtually invisible in the night but he could see nearly as well as daytime. He used an old trick he had learned from Aquaman to tell how long a ship had been anchored. Anchors were made of metal so they would naturally rust if left in water. Aqualad could look at the anchors, make a judgment of how rusted it was, and from that, know how long the Anchor had been in the water. From that, presumably he could estimate how long the ship had been docked.

He swam through the harbor and noticed a pattern. All the ships had been in the harbor for about three weeks. Then he came to the biggest one yet and noticed a definite change. This one had little-to-no rust on its anchor, meaning that it had constantly been in use. It was an extremely large Yacht. He surfaced under the docks to report to Robin.

"_Robin."_

"_Yes."_

"_All the ships save one have been anchored here for three weeks approximately, the same time as the Venom supplies were cut off." _

"_What's special about the one?"_

"_It is large, a Yacht, I suspect it belongs to the leader here."_

"_I agree. It probably has a computer with sensitive files on it. I need you to board it stealthily and get to the main computer."_

"_Affirmative."_

He looked for the best way to board the guarded boat.

* * *

Skip dropped the three boys off and then flew off to keep and eye on prominent happenings on the island. The three trekked towards the factory as Batman's original plan had entailed and kept and eye out for anything suspicious.

Robin touched his communicator and signaled Skip to bridge a mental connection between him and Ms. Martian.

"_Megan, figure anything out yet?"_

"_Some, these guards are all part of a cult called the cult of Cobra."_

"_I've heard of them, never battled them, but they are a radical group who worship a man they consider to be a god. Their ultimate goal is to usher in an age of Chaos. Find out anything else?"_

"_Yes, several have mentioned new allies and they appear to be well connected."_

"_That doesn't make sense; Cobra doesn't usually affiliate itself with any other organization. Anyway, keep listening, maybe one of them will tell more."_

"_Affirmative."_

Robin and his team moved on. The Superboy suddenly said "did you two hear that?"

"Uh, no, wait, is this a super-hearing thing?"

"What did it sound like?"

"Twigs snapping."

"Switch on your infrared goggles, Superboy, use your super-vision."

Both nodded and all three activated their respective sight enhancements. They all saw two squads of armed people incoming but knew that they would meet before coming anywhere near them. Then shots rung out and Ms. Martian and Aqualad immediately called, demanding to know what was going on. Robin assured them that they were fine and uninvolved.

Then he turned to Superboy and Kid Flash and said "we'd best go around them, but I want some information gathered on them, we'll-."

"Sure, I get the info and be back faster than you ever could-" said Kid Flash quickly. Then he ran off towards the fighting. Robin glared after him and then said to Superboy "c'mon, we might as well pull his butt out of the fire." Superboy grinned; he was going to enjoy this part.

Kid Flash was doing good until he hit the mud. He tripped in the slippery ooze and slid down the hill at super-speeds. He landed right smack dab in the middle of the firefight between the two squads. He looked up at a man with a black and white skin-tight mask on and remarked nervously "so much for the stealthy."

Kid Flash ran for cover as both sides tried to make him into a pincushion. The masked man felt a hand grab him from behind and, with great strength, throw him against a far off tree. He collapsed and didn't move. The Cobra Cultists in the other group didn't know what hit them as several were hit by Birdarangs and the others met Robin's preferred end of his Bo-Staff as he liked to call it. After taking care of the Cobra Cultists he looked over at the other group and saw that Superboy had successfully subdued them all. He grabbed them and tied them against trees.

* * *

Aqualad had reached the main computer room on the Yacht and was booting up the main computer. Then the screen came up requiring a password to enter. He called Robin and explained the situation to him.

"_Plug the Flash Drive in and it should crack the password."_

" _. . . Done, I'm in, but the files are encrypted."_

"_The Flash Drive wash specifically designed to break hard encryptions, let it do its work."_

"_Robin, trouble, two men are coming close to the room, I think they mean to check it. I don't have enough time!"_

"_Hit an orange button on the side of the Flash Drive and deal with the guards carefully."_

"_Roger . . . done, what did that Flash Drive do?"_

"_It downloaded all of the information in its encrypted state; I'll deal with it later. Now stash the bodies somewhere in the jungle and rendezvous with us."_

"_Roger."_

* * *

Robin was voicing what he had deduced to his teammates.

"Cobra most likely staged a hostile takeover of the island and is using the factory to work on Venom. The non-costumed guys are probably the former owners of the factory."

"We get it, the Cultists like venom. Let's radio Batman and get out of-."

"No, Cobra cultist don't use Venom, they have some other motive for capturing the factory. I want to find out what it is."

"You want to find out what it is. Dude, you're a 13 year old boy!"

"No I'm not I- . . . do you think you're better qualified to lead?"

"Totally, I could make crop circles that would be better than anything you can come up with. You don't even have Superpowers!"

"Yeah, so."

"That makes me more qualified to lead!"

"Tell that to Batman."

"Well duh! He's Batman!"

"And I'm different how?"

"Well you- . . . I- . . . It's just that . . ."

"Uh guys."

"What?"

"The factory workers are awake."

Robin told Ms. Martian and Aqualad to stay out of sight. He didn't want the enemy to know they had more than three people on the island. He walked over to the large man and said "can you understand me?"

"Sí, te entiendo muchacho."

Robin frowned as he translated "yes, I understand you boy."

"You only know half the story; I can show you the rest. I can get you into the factory via my secret entrance."

Robin was an expert at reading body language, he thought that the man was telling some of the truth, but also appeared to be hiding something. But he could work this situation to his advantage. After all, he'd teamed up with Slade once before.

"I'll let you show us the entrance but don't try anything, I'll be watching you."

He untied the man and let him lead them towards the factory. All the while Ms. Martian and Aqualad watched from the woods.

Robin saw the secret entrance and instructed Ms. Martian and Aqualad to watch the factory from a nearby ledge. They entered the secret passage behind the man, or as he told them his name, Bane. They eventually reached the end of the tunnel and came up against a door. Bane put his finger on the scanner and the door opened. Robin peeked out and then said "all clear, let's go."

They walked into the room a little ways and then Robin turned to the others. "I'm going to go to the control room to get intel. Superboy, Kid Flash, I need you to ascertain where they are the most concentrated and more importantly, to watch him" he said, pointing at Bane. Bane simply smirked in a way that seemed to scream "DON'T TRUST ME!" Superboy nodded but Kid Flash looked extremely annoyed. Robin ignored him and sped off towards the control room.

* * *

Kid Flash and Superboy kept a watchful eye on Bane as they surveyed where the Cult was concentrated. Suddenly Kid Flash said very quickly "I'll do it a lot faster than this, gotta run." With that he sped off before Superboy could stop him.

Kid Flash zoomed around, taking in who was where but stopped for the briefest instant behind a crate when he saw a hulking monster that had definitely taken something other than Venom. Then he heard an exclamation behind him and saw a guard staring straight at him. Before Kid could stop him he shouted a warning to the others and at that same moment Bane leapt out of Superboy's reach and began indiscriminately attacking the cultists. Kid Flash ran back towards Superboy and both began running towards the secret tunnel. Bane zoomed past them and zipped into the tunnel. Just as they remembered Robin and were about to turn back to face the horde of angry guards to get him, countless smoke grenades exploded in the midst of the guards.

Robin swooped in on a grapple and they all made tracks towards the secret entrance, not very secret anymore. Then they heard an almost animal roar and Robin glance behind them. With a shock he saw a familiar face bearing down on them. It took a moment for him to place it but them he realized who it was, Mammoth. Mammoth had been the main muscle for the Hive teams they'd faced, this Mammoth looked different in many ways but the main similarities were there and he was sure it was he beyond a shadow of a doubt. For some reason it made his head hurt.

But he had no time to stop, they sped into the passage and Robin shut the door behind them. That however, didn't do anything as Mammoth simply broke down the door. Seeing that he was gaining, Robin shouted "SUPERBOY, BREAK THE SUPPORT BEAMS!" Superboy did so and it had just the effect Robin wanted. The tunnel caved in behind them.

In the darkness and silence Robin grabbed a flashlight out of his utility belt and turned it on. Then they all felt Megan's presence as she asked "_HELLO IS EVERYONE ALRIGHT!"_

"_We're fine Megan, where are you and Aqualad?"_

"_Outside in the brush, but Bane is laying explosives in the cave; I think he's waiting for you."_

Robin nodded; he'd expected Bane to betray them. Then Aqualad's voice joined in "_what happened in there?"_

"_I gave the others explicit orders and Kid Flash disobeyed."_

"_Wally, is this true?" _

"_. . . Yes. But only because I think I could do a better job than him!"_

"_Wally, has any of his plans failed because they were poorly thought out?"_

" _. . . No."_

"_Has he ever told us to do something incredibly stupid?"_

" _. . . No."_

"_And have you ever helped by being insubordinate?"_

" _. . . No."_

"_This team needs a leader and it already has one. But and effective leader needs his followers to listen to him. Even the best laid out plans cannot function if the people in it decide to go their own way. I believe Robin is the best choice to lead us."_

"_Hello Megan! You're the most intelligent person I've ever met, and I think that you're best suited to leadership."_

"_I agree, I lead the bio-ship because it listens to me, and when I listen to you everything works out for the most part."_

"_I could've told you."_

Kid Flash looked around; he was outdone in both argument and in vote. Finally he held up his hands and said "fine, I'll listen from now on."

Robin nodded and then smiled and clapped Kid Flash on the back. He was glad to have the conflict over and done with. Now for the problem with Bane.

"_Ms. Martian, we'll walk out into view and while he's facing us, get the bomb detonator out of his hands and hoist him into the air."_

"_Got it."_

The three walked to the end of the tunnel into Bane's view. He began talking but suddenly the control in his hand jumped into the air and when he looked confused he was lifted into the air. Robin walked out, smirking and said "good thing I had reinforcements."

Bane dropped and Superboy knocked him out.

They all looked down at the factory and notice that a helicopter had landed. Robin explained what he'd found to his team "Cobra has combined the Venom formula with the Blockbuster formula. How they got access to it I don't know but it was what probably made that thing that was chasing us. We need to stop the deal that's going on down there. I have specific roles we each can fill. Now here's what they are . . ."

* * *

The helicopter with Sportsmaster was almost ready to take off. Sportsmaster was walking towards it when a yellow and red blur zoomed through and hit several guards. It continued to do so when Superboy landed right on top of Mammoths head and drove it into the ground before leaping away. Once Mammoth got up he roared and charged at Superboy. Just before he reached him he was hit by a stream of water and was pushed back. Superboy took the opportunity offered by Mammoth's limited mobility to begin pummeling him. Many more guards poured out from the factory and were about to fire on Aqualad when a laser bolt hit in the middle of them and sent many of them flying.

Skip piloted the bio-ship to fly around to reduce chances of being hit as he fired into the masses of cult members. Mammoth had just about been knocked out by now, the final blow came when Aqualad electrocuted him through his water. He fell over knocked out. Superboy then leapt after Sportsmaster who was heading for the chopper while Aqualad helped the others deal with the henchmen.

Cobra watched impassively, then his henchwoman was tied up by a lasso and he turned to see Robin.

"While I admit you might not like getting your hands dirty, I think you'll spring for a fight with me."

"True, I wish to test myself against the protégé of the Bat, so that I may have some judgment of the skills of the Bat himself. He shed his overlarge cloak and stood ready. Robin leapt at him and kicked at his feet. He jumped but was unprepared when Robin in mid-kick, curved upwards and hit him anyway. He fell on his side and rolled away as Robin continued to attack.

Sportsmaster used a special rifle to blast Superboy. He was right at the back entrance to the chopper when he felt himself be lifted up by the Martian. He was tossed back and forth against the walls of the Chopper until he brought up his gun and began firing in random arcs. This forced Ms. Martian to let him go and he closed up the Chopper. He took off, marveling that they let him do so. Then he heard the beeping and looked back to see a bomb. He quickly bailed out and landed in the jungle.

Robin and Cobra's fight had moved to over by the woods. Cobra was impressed, he did not expect to have to exert this much of his fighting prowess. However, Robin was too slow, not enough in shape. He caught his fist as he threw a punch and tossed Robin away from him. Smirking, he said as he melted back into the forest "I'm impressed, you are truly skilled, but you require improvement, perhaps you should run back to your master like the whelp you are. Until we meet again."

Robin hit the ground in frustration; if he'd been at his physical level in his own universe he might've had a chance against Cobra. Then he noticed the Chopper spinning out of control and knew the bomb Ms. Martian had planted was liable to go off any second. He rushed to one of the crates, wrenched it open and grabbed two vials. Then he shouted telepathically "_GET CLEAR!"_

All of the team moved away from the factory. Not a moment too soon, almost before they were clear the chopper exploded and slammed into the factory. They all watched and then Wally remarked dryly "as leader you get to explain this, you know that right."

* * *

"A simple recon mission, observe and report. That was all you were assigned. You'll each receive a written evaluation detailing your many faults!"

Batman talked to them in a scathing voice, but what he said next was kind, well maybe not quite but he is Batman. "Until then, good job."

They all looked at him in confusion.

"No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. How you adjust is what determines your success, your independency, if used correctly, can be an asset. Most importantly, how you choose a leader, determines character.

Everyone smiled and glanced towards Robin. Then they all left for home. Before Batman left, Robin walked up to him and handed him two vials.

"One has the normal Venom, and the other is the modified product. I have copies as well."

Batman nodded and walked through the teleporter.

Skip requested that Robin come into his room and once Robin was there, Skip began explaining about the Cadmus board of directors.

* * *

In a dark room with the screens of shifting light figures Sportsmaster stood.

"I was only able to retrieve this single vial of Cobra Venom."

One of the figure spoke in a distinct French accent _"the Venom can be reverse engineered. But what of our young heroes? First Cadmus, then Mr. Twister, now this."_

"_Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, but thrice is enemy movement and enemies of the Light must not stand."_

* * *

_Dear Diary:_

_Megan gave me this. This is Wally West by the way. Robin's changed. He used to smile and laugh all the time. I mean he still smiles but ever since the Cadmus incident he's been acting as boring as Batman. I'll be keeping an eye on him. Maybe he was replaced by a disgruntled radioactive clone!_

_Kid Flash, diary entry # 1_

* * *

_This kinda feels like it was forced out, I hope you like it. I sat down and typed for about 3 hours straight to get this done. The reference Robin makes to Aqualad sounding like Cyborg is a private joke because they are both voice by the same guy. Just to let you know, Robin still has to decrypt the data Aqualad got him. And it may be harder than he thinks. Kid Flash's theory on Robin's change of personality is a line actually taken from Teen Titans, see if you can guess from what episode and from whom. _

_I am considering doing another filler for the next chapter and am juggling two ideas. I would like your opinion on whether to do that or not. If you say yes and I decide yes, then I'd like you to choose between two ideas, one involves just the team living at the base going on an adventure where they meet people like Hal Jordan (Green Lantern), Guy Gardner (other Green Lantern), Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes version), and Red Star. The other idea is the team defending a prominent person with a familiar face making a cameo as the assailant. I will most likely do both at some point during the story so this is really only a vote on which you'd like to come first._

_PLEASE REVIEW! Lolz_

* * *

_Now for the mailbag:_

KaliAnn

I'm glad your home is okay and its fine with me the relationship between Skip and Superboy. I was talking about a bond between Robin and Superboy. This was a very well written chapter showing the growing divide between this Robin and his thoughts on his new team. I like how thorough he's being in researching a way home and that Batman is also trusting him at this point. The only forcible problem is Wally not wanting to listen. I love that dream.

_Oh, sorry for the misunderstanding. Well, Wally it seems will listen now. Doesn't mean he'll hesitate to point out "flaws" that Robin has. Batman is certainly trusting him and Robin is finding himself trusting this new Batman more in return as evidenced him giving Batman the vials of Venom._

potterinu

Less than harmony between Wally and TTRobin huh? Nice. Please don't pair up Superboy and Megan.

_Wally seems in both to be too laid back to like to take orders. Maybe the YJ version is a bit better than the TT version (that version being a honorary member and not on a team). But still, Wally seems to be missing the "look-before-you-leap" trait that would do him wonders._

_Sorry, but if I make use of the pairings Superboy and Megan will almost certainly be going together along with Wally and Artemis. I like the couple too much to pair them with someone else. Sorry._

WiseGirl-AC

I totally love the small bits of TT "memories" going on! I still can't wait 'till they figure out that this isn't their Robin! Ooooh! And then the JL's reaction!

_Hope you liked these memories. I don't plan on doing that fully until after I go through the current episodes. However, it won't be long after the current episodes and that doesn't mean that the evidence won't appear for the team to see it. _

_Let me assure you that the Justice League's reaction will play a large part in the story._

SuperninjaX

EPIC! love it!

_Thanks a lot, continue reviewing._

TobiGB

I must admit that this is one great stoy you have here, and I like how TT-Robin is interacting with Young Justice. I wander how YJ-Robin is doing with the Titans? Well anyway I have a pretty good idea who the leader will be and I really look forward to the next chapter and God Bless you.

_Thanks, I kinda made it obvious who the leader would be. It's good to know I have a Christian reader (no offense if you aren't.)_

_God Bless You :)_

Star of Airdrie

Very nice segue from TT!Robin to YJ!Robin. This is good.

Very nice job, nice action and thank you for the add'l author's notes for those who want further insight into your thought process

This was wonderful! The story has really hit its stride and I'm really enjoying it.  
Looking forward to more!

Loved the chapter - very good character study (plus you make me happy as a RobStar shipper)  
Looking forward to more!

_I hope the changes I am making are sufficient. I enjoy the author's notes as well. I'm glad it's connecting with the readers. I hope this chapter is up to snuff. Yes, I am a long-time RobStar shipper. I may not like it as much as BBRae but I like it a good deal too._

Evil Soul

I enjoyed this chapter quite a lot. You've got a handle on TT-Robin and most of the characters, but I'm not sure KF would screw up like he did and then turn around and blame Robin for it considering their supposed to be best friends (I can believe he would screw up like that, just not the blame part.).

Aqualad and Miss Martian supporting Robin as leader works, given that in the cartoon Aqualad has siad that he thinks Robin should be leader, and You've already started creating a relationship between Robin and Miss M. Superboy's reaction is good too; I can't see him being willing to let anyone give him orders easily after only just winning his freedom from Cadmus. He'd want to ease in to it. KF's reaction suits the version you've presented, but again I'm not sure if that's what the cartoon version would do. Still loving Skip, but seeing as YJ-Robin was the one who introduced the concept of "I'm Whelmed" - which Skip uses as a password to activate the Bio-ships weapons - I'm not sure it really works here.

I can't really give an opinion on the Justice League movie reference - crisis on two earths, right? - as I haven't seen it yet and won't any time soon. It's good as is, but if what happened in the movie begins to play a bigger part in the story, you might what to add more details further on.

Couple of questions for you though.

First - Robin's appearance. Is it steel toed boots, green tights and spiked hair like in Teen Titans, or black tights with his hair all but plastered to head like in Young Justice?

Second - Age. TT-Robin is clearly presented as being 15 to 18, without a definite age for him (or the others) being stated. YJ Robin is said in an early episode to be thirteen.

Now, in the comics, Dick Grayson was eight years old, parents died, only child, taken in by Bruce Wayne after time in Juvie because that was they only place an uncaring system could put him. Spent six months being trained before Batman let him out as Robin, so he could've been nine by then. Post crisis this was changed to twelve which personally I don't get. It made more sense when he was eight, which was the same age as Bruce Wayne.

YJ-Robin has been around four years, so the origin where he was eight makes sense there. TT-Robin said to Miss M that he's been at this six years though, so I'm guessing he's fifteen by that origin, but if I recall correctly, you said in an earlier chapter that he had been with the Titans for years meaning he had to leave Gotham when he was at most thirteen. Two words come to mind - Social Services. This means I'm thinking the second origin is more likely, as he could've left around 15/16 and been written off by the public as a tempremental teen.

Would really like some clarification there.

Third - Titans have been around how long? With five seasons and the movie, most people say years, but considering that the characters - who are growing teens remember - never seem to age and the only time I can recall a event which marked the time is Raven's birthday where she turned 16 or 18 in season 4 - in comics it was 18, but in the cartoon the characters look younger and aren't the first team of Titans. In comics, Raven, Starfire, etc. were part of the reformed tians. Check Wikipedia if you don't know much about the comics. - , which makes me think that the entire show, from the first episode to the end of the movie takes a year or so at best.

Fourth - Before or after the movie? I know it's after season five because you mentioned the brotherhood of evil and the expanded titans network.

Sorry for the lengthy reveiw and any spelling/ grammer errors. It is quite long, which is why I debated posting it but, what the hell right? Thanks for taking the time to read and reply to this.

Also, update more often please. This is the most interesting story I have come across in quite sometime, and about the only one I still read and check to see if it's been updated (I do this daily, for crying out loud!). Once more, Thank you.

_The movie isn't intended to be a big part of the series, I just threw in that reference. Kid Flash's reactions I am trying to imply, stem from him recognizing that Robin is not acting as he should be (according to Kid Flash) and he is rather suspicious about it. I hope I explained the "I'm Whelmed" mistake good enough. I noticed that after I published the chapter that I'd forgotten that YJ Robin was the one to introduce that. _

_#1 In order to allay suspiscion, Robin is wearing the YJ Robin's uniform. Not to say that he'll wear that throughout the entire fic._

_#2We'll say that Robin is 16 years old, has been Robin since age 10. Was adopted at age 8 and trained for 2 years because Batman wanted him to be fully ready for a vigilante's life. (I'm no scholar of the DC Realm so it took a bit of thinking to figure out your suggestions. But thanks for the insight, I hope this clarifies things.)_

_#3 Some birthday's may occur off-screen. I shall put forth in this story that Robin left Batman at age 14 and the Titans have been around for 2 years. I can see the Titans looking relatively the same in that period of time._

_#4This takes place after the series and the movie has ended, thus the Titans are at their height and have somewhat strained relations with the Justice League due to their prowess and size._

_Don't be sorry for the length of the review, I enjoyed it immensely. I actually prefer lengthy reviews with structure like yours. I would be quite happy if every review you post was this long, they don't have to be but I like it a lot. _

_I hope you like this chapter and I hope the next one comes quicker._

* * *

Well, hope you enjoyed this.

Good Day and God Bless :)

Sincerely, LordGodsServant


	9. Political Protection

_I published a story on Avatar the Last Airbender. Maybe you should try it._

_Sorry for the wait on this one._

* * *

Skip had just finished telling Robin about the Board of the Light that Dr. Desmond had reported to. Robin was thinking a bout this new development. The leaders were cautious not doubt about that, if they had to hide their identities from even their underlings. It looked as if he had another Brotherhood of Evil case on his hands. He really wished that his team was as big as the Titans had been back home but beggars can't be choosers. Robin worked out some and then went to sleep. He had an entirely dreamless night.

The next day he went through an extended workout program. He'd resolved after the fight with Kobra to whip this new Robin's body into shape. After running himself ragged and taking a shower he ate a breakfast he carefully balanced to supply him with all the things needed from the food pyramid. No, he didn't eat any of those things like cereals that claim "part of a balanced and nutritious breakfast."

After that he began researching on the internet. He was studying Gotham. In this universe it was as crime infested as in his own. He was researching the operations of such men as the Penguin and Black Mask. These men were crime lords, even when Batman could pin them down for a crime and jail them they ran their black market empires through their cronies and more often than not they bribed their way out of jail.

Robin was trying to hack their systems in order to infect it with a special virus that he'd had Cyborg design. He had some skill with hacking but Cyborg was far better than he had ever been. Thus, he'd had Cyborg design several high tech computer virus's designed to infect a system and hide itself. It had many other functions but they were too complicated to go into right now.

Then he received a message from Batman telling him that he should report to the main room. With a sigh he shut down the computer, he'd been planning to try and decrypt all the data Kaldur had gotten from the ship the Kobra cult had had but he would have to try later.

* * *

He arrived first in the main room. Batman was waiting for him. Robin checked the location of everyone in the building, Superboy was in the gym, Aqualad was in the pool, Kid Flash was playing video games, and Megan and Skip were in the kitchens.

Batman was about to call them when Robin said "wait, I need to speak with you."

Batman nodded and asked "what about."

"On the last mission Kid Flash called me 13, in my universe I'm 16. It made me realize that if I'm going to essentially "be" your Robin, at least for little while, then I need to know the basic facts."

Batman nodded "My Robin started 3 years ago at age 10. I adopted him at age 8, almost immediately after the traumatic events I assume you share concerning your parents and the Circus?"

Robin nodded.

"He is enrolled at Gotham Academy for the extremely skilled. It's a School that occurs year round but allows far more leniency in missing it. As Dick Grayson, I partially homeschool you. I occasionally take you to Wayne company functions to show you them. Is that enough information for the present?"

Robin nodded and thanked him. Batman the asked him "how long ago did you leave my counterpart?"

"Two years ago. I formed the core team of the Titans almost immediately after that. We've been around since then, growing in size, and I really am hoping to find them still there when I get back."

Batman then brought up something that had been on his mind for a bit "has the Justice League ever offered to help the Titans?"

Robin thought for a bit, then said "In a way yes, but that "help" always entailed the Titan's becoming a branch of the Justice League and all the protégé's that where part of it becoming once more subjugated to their mentors. Also, I wasn't quite sure what the League would say about some, in their eyes, more questionable recruits."

"Which recruits would these be?"

"Before I answer, understand that these people have proved themselves many times over and I would trust any of them with my life in a mission. One is Slade's, sorry, Deathstroke's son."

Batman's breath caught in his throat, but before he could blurt out an objection Robin held up his hand and continued.

"Before you tell me how obvious of a tactical blunder this seems to be I'll explain. I watched him for months before I even considered recruiting him. He lives a frugal life on top of a mountain with little to no contact with the outside world. I recruited him as we fought with the Brotherhood of evil and he proved instrumental to winning the war. He doesn't know that I know of his parentage and as far as I know, no one else does."

Batman considered this, looking at it from many different viewpoints. Finally he nodded and said "very well, it appears well thought out. Who are some of the others?"

"One is a Russian man who was part of an old Soviet Russian program that gave him powers. But it worked too well and whenever he became riled up radioactive energy would explode out of him. To cut a long story short, he joined us after we helped him defeat a monster born of his powers. The League might hold his old Soviet contact against him but I don't. He did what he did for the love of his country, not for the Government. He once told me that he would even fight his own government if need be."

Batman nodded, he couldn't deny that several members of his League would be wary at best, and point-blank refuse to accept at worst, of some of these people. But he saw the logic behind them so he let it slide. Then he asked another question "How big were the Titans when you first faced Deathstroke, or Slade?"

"It was just the original team. But I let my emotions get the best of me."

Batman nodded, and then he looked at the clock and noticed that they had spent 10 minutes already talking. He called the rest of the team in. Megan and Skip came in, along with Superboy, who wasn't even sweating. Aqualad was dripping wet when he came in but being an Atlantean he of course didn't mind. Kid Flash was eating out of a Sour Cream and Onion Lays bag of chips when he speeded in.

Batman pulled up a screen and started talking "this is Bialya, a rogue state not under the League's protection. It's ruled by Queen Bee so we keep an eye on it. Earlier this day one of the League's interceptors picked up a signal emanating from Bialya going to the US. We managed to record it and decode it. It was an order of assassination of someone. The name was a jumble of letters, clearly an anagram. We ran the names of everyone of note on the Watchtower's computer and came up with two names, Thrac and Carth.

"I know the name of Thrac, he is the President. But who has the last name of Carth?"

"Nobody, you guessed rightly that one of the targets is the President, thus the League will be protecting him as the time specified in the order passes. The other is a Senator whose first name is Carth. You shall be protecting him."

"What, come on man, I can totally protect the president!"

Batman turned to Kid Flash, "it is not a question of whether or not you could, but how well you could. The League is going to protect the more likely target but we cannot leave the Senator unprotected. Thus you shall be protecting him."

Robin nodded, he felt a bit annoyed that his team was being relegated to guard duty just in case but he would put up with it.

"Both the President and the Senator are performing functions today. The President is signing bills on foreign policy and the Senator is giving a speech at an opera house in New York. You shall be protecting him throughout the day."

Robin nodded while Kid Flash pumped his hand in the air at being able to go to the city that never sleeps. Megan wondered aloud what it would be like in a big city while Superboy looked clueless.

* * *

The Senator had been made aware of the danger and the measures being put into place. Thus he wasn't surprised when the Young Justice arrived. Robin explained that they would mute their presence as much as possible and he agreed.

"And where will all of you be?"

"I would like to have Ms. Martian quite near you; she can disguise herself as an aide and sit a few seats away."

"Nonsense, she will sit next to me, it's the least I can do for your service being rendered. Now, I'll alert security not to be alarmed by your prescence, and when the concert starts the halls will be practically empty. You could patrol them."

"Very good, and thank you for your cooperation sir."

"Please, call me Carth, and think nothing of it, I hold great respect for the Justice League and their protégé's and have never hidden it. To me this is a great honor, I understand why the League cannot be here themselves."

They travelled to the place he would spend most of his day, the Opera House. Robin organized the team to patrol several areas. He put Megan right next to the Senator disguised as an aide, Superboy and Aqualad patrolled the halls, and Kid Flash periodically ran circles around the building.

As for Robin himself, he spent a good deal of time adding in features he felt necessary. Then he hid in the rafters of the main theatre. He periodically checked the thermal cameras he'd set up add intervals throughout the building. He also checked up on his teammates periodically.

The Concert started and nothing happened. Kid Flash began complaining that the Justice League had taken all of the glory by hogging the President.

About an hour into the concert, when everyone except Robin had basically relaxed and were quite sure no assassination attempt would be made, Robin checked in with Kid Flash.

"_Kid, how's everything going on outside."_

There was no answer.

He tried again, still no answer.

Once more he tried, and this time all he heard was static, he was being jammed.

He checked his connection with the other members of the team but wasn't surprised to find that he couldn't contact them. He looked down. Ms. Martian was sitting right next to the Senator, he'd insisted very kindly that she did, and was very engrossed in the concert. He tried to get her attention but she didn't see him. So he got out a laser light and turned it on. He shined it until it was pointing right at Megan's eye. She blinked and looked up, and then he gave her the signal to link the team up telepathically.

She nodded and a moment later Robin felt the now familiar presence of her mind touching his. She knew not to wander too deep into his psyche, his mind most of the time wasn't a very fun place to be. He also had means of blocking telepathic intrusion, Raven had been teaching him before he'd ended up here.

"_Everyone sound off, someone has set up a jamming net!"_

"_Aqualad here, patrolling the halls!"_

"_Superboy here, also patrolling the halls!"_

"_Ms., Martian here, watching the Senator!"_

"_Skip here, patrolling the skies with the Bio-Ship!"_

" _. . ."_

"_Kid Flash isn't answering, he's probably knocked out, Aqualad and Superboy, be on high alert. Skip, I want you to fly over the building and see if you can spot Kid. Megan, stay where you are and make sure the Senator is safe!"_

"_Roger!"_

"_Got it!"_

"_Will do!"_

Robin brought up his portable computer and hooked into all of the camera's he'd set up. He cycled through them and nothing appeared out of the ordinary. Then he switched to infrared. As he cycled past the hallways he suddenly paused. A man was moving quickly through one of the halls, though he was probably cloaked. Robin tried to make out his features, he couldn't using the infrared camera's.

"_Tit-, team! There is a cloaked man moving through hallway B16!"_

"_That's on the other side of the building from us, we'll be there ASAP!"_

Robin nodded and continued to track the man. He moved higher and higher in the building until he was at the highest level where he could still access the theatre. Then he passed off of Robin's cameras. He looked at the area of the theatre that the man had disappeared closest to. He saw nothing so he tapped his mask, this Robin had had several tech upgrades worked into his mask, Robin hadn't really seen the point because a single bolt of electricity from something and he ran the risk of blinding himself.

However, now he saw the man standing in one of the empty elevated booths and he was holding a sniper rifle and was scanning the crowd. Quickly Robin drew a Birdarang and aimed. He threw with silent accuracy and it sank into the gun. The man's head jerked to look in his direction and then he turned and ran out the door. Robin quickly ran between the rafters and vaulted to the booth the assassin had so recently vacated.

He ran out into the hall and saw the man, now decloaked, running down the hallway. He looked oddly familiar.

"_Team, I am in pursuit of the assassin, we are heading north through the hallway, head him off!"_

"_Roger, heading the assassin off!"_

Robin drew a Birdarang and chucked it at the back of the villain's head. It connected and the man fell down, then he got back up and turned to face Robin.

Robin came to a dead stop. The Assassin stared at him, and Robin stared back into the masked face that had haunted his nightmare's for two years. Black on the right side and gold on the left, with only one eye, Slade watched Robin's look of hatred with interest.

* * *

The others where running to head off the villain when suddenly they stopped and clutched their heads while groaning in pain. From Robin they could sense hatred, hatred so intense that it echoed across the telepathic bond they were currently sharing. After a few seconds the hatred subsided as it withdrew back into Robin's consciousness. They continued on but everyone had the same question on their minds _"who could Robin hate so much?"_

* * *

"Robin, I was wondering when we would meet. I believe introductions are in order. I know about you, but I doubt you've heard my name before."

The assassin surveyed the young hero, he was surprised to find that Robin was looking at him with utter hatred in his eyes, they had only just met.

"Deathstroke . . . Deathstroke is my name. I look forward to seeing if you're able to stay alive long enough to remember it."

He tapped a button on his armor plating's and then moved to attack. He swung a fist but Robin blocked. They dueled across the hallway, Robin mostly going on the offensive. Slade, for that was his true name, not his villain alter-ego, was again surprised at the ferocity of the attacks. They were the attacks of someone fighting his arch-nemesis, not someone he had never met before. Then he heard footsteps and saw Aqualad and Superboy running up the hall to head him off.

Before they reached him however, holes appeared in the ceiling where the ducts ran and robots jumped down into the hall. Robin knew them well, Sladebots, or maybe in this case, Deathbots. About 15 where now in the hall with more coming down and they began attacking the two heroes who'd come to back Robin up. They defended as the Robots attacked with punches and with guns.

Robin meanwhile continued to battle Slade. He knew that the walls in the building where soundproofed so nobody could really hear them fight. He swept at Slade's feet and then said "I WILL NEVER ALLOW YOU TO GET THE SENATOR!"

"Really, never is such a long time. Don't make oaths you can't keep Robin."

Robin only growled as he continued to press the attack. Slade blocked more and more ferocious hits and slowly gave ground. None of them noticed when about 5 Sladebots ran off and left the fight.

Slade suddenly swiped at Robin's feet and knocked them out from under him. Robin was back on his feet almost instantly but Slade was already off. Robin pursued as the Superboy and Aqualad dealt with the Sladebots. Slade kept ahead of Robin as they wove through the building. At first, Robin assumed he was going to try and assassinate the Senator again but as he dashed through a door Slade had just run through he found himself outside. He knew then that Slade was trying to escape.

Slade was running towards a skyscraper that was just across the road from the Opera house. Robin pursued him and dashed across the road. Cars honked their horns as he dodged them and wove through traffic to get Slade. As Slade reached the other side he ran into an alleyway and then shot off a grapple. It reached about halfway up and then caught. It hoisted Slade up fast and Robin quickly drew his own grapple and shot it off. It wrapped around Slade's ankle and suddenly Robin was being hoisted too.

Then Skip's voice rang through his head "_uh, guys, there's a military grade helicopter incoming. I'm going to observe it."_

Robin barely heard him as he watched Slade look down at him. Slade drew a knife and with some difficulty, hoisted his caught leg up and cut the cord. Robin drew another grapple (he always kept spares) and shot that one off. It caught far enough away so Slade couldn't reach it. Once it had fully hoisted him up he shot it off again and this time it reached the top of the building, Slade was already ¾ of the way up.

Then, on the way up, Robin noticed a noise, the sound of a helicopter. Upon reaching the top he saw that the helicopter Skip had warned them about had landed and Slade was getting in it. He saw Robin and told the Sladebot driving it to take off. It did so and Robin once more fired off his grapple. It latched into the door in the middle and suddenly Robin was soaring high above New York, hanging from a single line.

The grapple began pulling him up and once he was fully pulled in he drew a Birdarang. He stabbed it into where he knew the locking mechanism for the door was and forced the door open. He tumbled in and Slade looked back to see him.

"Robin, I'm beginning to think you don't want me to leave, you could've just asked."

Robin snarled and got into the fighting position. Slade stepped back into the open area and threw the first punch. Robin redirected it and it hit the closed door on the other side of the helicopter, right on its lock. The lock broke and the door slid open, now to both their left and their right was open air.

They dueled, neither speaking a word, Robin attacking and Slade defending. Slade marveled again at the ferocity of the attacks but noted that Robin was too young and not in shape enough. Still, he admired one thing about him.

"I must say Robin; I am surprised that you are coming out of the Bats shadow. I must say congratulations, but I also advise you to train harder. With the skills you're showing me right now, I doubt you could face any real villain. But all in all, I'm very impressed."

This didn't make Robin any happier; in fact it did the opposite. It was worse than any insult his Slade had ever thrown at him; it burned him hard and got under his skin. In a rage he charged but suddenly Slade's foot lashed out and kicked him right in the chest. At that moment the pilot took the opportunity to bank steeply and as a result, the chopper tipped. While Slade found a hold, Robin found nothing and he fell out the side of the chopper.

He was falling, closer and closer to the ground he came. He screamed in terror, and then he remembered the feature he'd added in for just such a time as this.

He tapped his belt and suddenly his cape reformed into a jetpack looking shape and indeed that was what it was. He stopped falling and then blasted off after the chopper.

* * *

Slade was looking out one of the open sides when he heard the sound of a rocket. He turned just in time to see the look of hatred on Robin's face a he slammed right into his stomach. The impetus of this took them both out of the chopper and suddenly they both where falling. They began a new type of fight, a fight in free-fall. Somewhere during it Slade's fist sank into the jetpack and it broke and reverted back to a cape. They exchanged more blows until both looked down and saw that they where approaching the ground fast, a train yard grew bigger and bigger as they fell towards it.

They separated but just as Robin was about to grab his grapple (several elevated train tracks formed part of the yard), a lasso wrapped around them. He saw Slade form his body like a pencil and bring out his own grapple as Robin struggled for free his hands. Finally, he managed to break the cords binding them and quickly drew his grapple. He shot and it wrapped around the elevated tracks. He swung down, losing speed as he went but it wasn't quite enough to completely save him. As his swing neared the lowest point of its arc he hit the ground, rolling in the dirt and sand.

Sputtering and breathing heavily he got on his knees. Slade was standing there, watching him. Then Robin saw several black suburban's driving up behind him, flanked by many motorcycles driven by Sladebots. Slade had sure planned this out quite a bit. He got in one of the cars as Robin started running towards him. The vehicles began to take off alongside one of the many train tracks and Robin used his ever faithful grapple. Once of the Sladebots felt the grapple wrap around its neck. It grabbed it and attempted to pull it off. Robin was pulled on his back; luckily he had designed his cape to cushion him so he wasn't hurt seriously. He tapped a button on his utility belt. Then he began pulling himself up the line.

About 30 seconds later he heard the wonderful sound of the R-Cycle pulling into the train yard. It pulled up alongside him and he, with some difficulty, mounted it. He retracted his grapple and kicked the Sladebot that had had it wrapped around its neck off its motorcycle. He pulled up alongside the Suburban Slade had entered and grabbed one of the back door handles. It opened and he leapt in, both the back and the middle seats had been removed.

Before Slade could do anything more than growl at the boy's persistence, Robin had thrown a Birdarang into the Sladebot driving the vehicle. Slade locked the wheel and the gas pedal and then leapt back and pinned Robin to the floor. Strangely enough he was holding what looked like a briefcase in one hand while he held down Robin with the other.

An elbow slammed into Slade's face mask and left a sizeable dent. As this happened, one of Robin's knee's jerked up and into Slade's gut. The breath came whooshing out of Slade in a rush and his grip weakened considerably. Robin struggled to get freed but Slade's free arm moved from pinning his chest to his neck and wrapped around his throat. The fingers closed strong and tight. Robin grabbed the fingers and tried to peel them away before they crushed his windpipe.

* * *

Outside the convoy was moving along. But then the Bio-Ship pulled up and out of it dropped the team. Kid Flash literally hit the ground running, Superboy landed right on once of the motorcycles and crushed it. He then began to make enormous leaps to keep pace with the rest of them. Aqualad commandeered one of the motorcycles and began destroying the robots and Megan did likewise with her Telekinesis. Skip provided air support as Sladebot reinforcements arrived in even more vehicles.

* * *

Robin was starting to see stars when the car suddenly gave a monumental lurch. It had hit some train tracks and was running along inside of them. This lurch caused Slade to fly up and hit the ceiling and land off of Robin. Robin sat up, coughing and trying to recover as Slade moved towards the sun roof. He opened it up and climbed out onto the roof. He radioed to his robots to come and pick him up. Then he felt a hand grab his leg. Looking back he saw Robin, half out of the sun roof, with one hand clutching his leg like a drowning child.

"I . . . WON'T . . . LET YOU . . . GET AWAY!"

Slade sighed in annoyance and kicked Robin in the forehead. Despite this, Robin clambered out and stood up to face Slade on top of the roof. They both drew their Bo-Staffs and, with the balance and skill born of dedicating their lives to learning combat, they dueled once more.

* * *

Kid Flash dodged bolts of energy shot from Sladebots on motorcyles. He was feeling rather useless, he didn't have the skills or the powers required to take down any of the Sladebots. He nearly tripped on a stone and then he had an idea. He zipped around, gathering up as many stones as he could, and then he began throwing them as hard as he could at the exposed parts of the motorcycles.

Suddenly one of them blew up in a big ball of fire and Kid Flash grinned and repeated the process.

* * *

Slade kicked Robin and he fell on his back. Slade stabbed downwards with his staff like a spear but Robin rolled aside. Slade stabbed so hard that his staff sunk into the roof of the car. Before he could yank it out Robin kicked him in the gut. He let go of the staff and fell back. When he looked up he saw that Robin had grabbed hold of the staff still sunk in the car and had it bent back so that it would whip forward and smash into Slade.

Robin grinned widely as he let the staff go and it smashed into the villain he hated so much. With the force of a charging Rhino Slade was smashed on his back and he waited for another blow. Robin grabbed the briefcase that Slade had dropped. He opened it and saw that it was a computer disguised as a briefcase and it said "_device armed."_ Then they both turned to look as they heard a very unwelcome noise, _a train whistle_.

They both saw the train coming down the same track as them, straight at them and suddenly Robin was paralyzed, he couldn't move a muscle, not even his eyes. A feeling of indescribable terror welled up inside of him, his every brain cell was screaming at him to leave Slade, that he could catch him later, to save himself. He had long since learned to control such feelings under Batman and when to listen to them, but this feeling was so . . . sudden, strong and somehow, foreign, that he fought for control of his body.

He fought with the fear for what seemed like hours, in reality it was only a minute but by the time he'd forced his body to obey him again it was already too late. He found himself sitting on the back end of the car with a cable quadruple tied around his ankles. 3 choppers flew overhead and one of them dangled a ladder down to Slade.

Robin could almost see the maniacal grin behind the mask as Slade bent back the staff still lodged in the car and, in the same move Robin had used on him, let it snap back and smash Robin off the back of the car. Then Slade grabbed the ladder and he was off.

With speed to rival Kid Flash, Robin grabbed both corners of his cloak and found the hooks he had put on them. He then fastened them onto corresponding hooks on the bottoms of his shoes. He hit the tracks hard but the cape absorbed most of the impact. Then he was being dragged along while the train drew ever closer.

Robin drew out a special Birdarang, it was extremely sharp, sharp and strong enough to cut through steel. Even so, Slade had made his cables extremely hard to cut so Robin had to start sawing at it like a rope. It was slow going as the line was very strong.

* * *

Ms. Martian and Skip had fallen behind when a good deal of the Sladebots had taken a fancy to shooting holes in the Bio-Ship. The Bio-Ship didn't like that.

Kid Flash was still running level with Robin but the other two where trailing behind them. Kid Flash saw Robin's plight and moved in close to see what he could do.

"GET OUT OF HERE KID! THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO!"

Kid Flash ignored the order as he searched for some way to free Robin. Then Robin's fist shot out and slammed into his face. He fell over and came to a stop. He got up as quick as he could but Robin had already gained a huge lead. He took off again, trying to catch up.

* * *

Robin knew he wouldn't be able to cut through the wire in time, he was only ¾ of the way done and he estimated he had 15 seconds before the train crushed him into a bloody pulp. He saw a bridge going over the track coming up and had an idea. It was crazy, but it might be his only chance. He drew his grapple; if this worked he would frame the amazing thing, and began swinging it faster and faster. As he passed under the bridge he swung and it successfully wrapped it around the one of the support beams.

Then the line went taught and he experienced a horrific jerk that felt like it tore him in two. Then he was jerked but in what direction he didn't know.

Then he blacked out.

* * *

The team cried in horror as the car collided with the train and robin was crushed. They stopped and watched the train go by and when it had passed they looked all around to see if they could find their leader. He wasn't to be found.

Then, Skip and Megan came up and Megan asked "what happened, where's Robin, did he go after the intruder?"

A horrible silence greeted her. For a moment she didn't understand, and then it dawned on her. Tears began leaking out of her eyes and she grabbed Superboy for support.

"This is all my fault!"

All their eyes turned to Kid Flash.

"If I had been more alert, that assassin never would've gotten in and-"

"Kid, you cannot blame yourself, we all should've been more alert as Robin warned us to be."

"But I-"

"SHHHHHHH . . . quiet . . . did you here that?"

They all listened hard and then they heard it, a small groan. Once more they all looked around and then Superboy said "THERE!"

They all rushed at what they had assumed to be a small pile of dirt. Once they got to it they found that it was not merely a pile of dirt but a pile of dirt that looked a lot like Robin. And it was moving.

They watched as Robin opened his eyes. He was so covered with dust and dirt that he easily blended in with the ground.

" . . . Kid . . ."

"Yeah Rob, what is it?"

". . . don't ever disobey my orders again . . ."

The irony of him telling them off when he had almost died himself caused them all to laugh. Kid Flash, Aqualad, Megan, and Skip all fell on their backs laughing while Superboy merely chuckled.

After the hilarity had died down they brought Robin back aboard the Bio-Ship and began flying back towards the Opera Hall. Megan checked out Robin's wounds even though he insisted that it was nothing.

"It's not nothing, you're lucky that jerk didn't rip you in half. . . . Well, you've been extremely lucky today and only have a few pulled muscles and they'll mend soon."

Robin sat up and said "it doesn't make sense!"

"What doesn't Robin?"

"Why would Sl- Deathstroke quit after only one try? I've heard of him and know that he never abandons a job unless it's absolutely impossible or pointless."

"Let us review what happened then. You blocked his first attempt, he called in the robots, he tried to escape several times and you followed him."

"He had some sort of computer with him in the car, it said something about something being armed."

"Sounds like a bomb detonator."

They all stood stock still, realizing now why Slade must've called in the Sladebots and then Robin barked "MEGAN, SKIP GET US BACK THERE NOW!"

They complied and within 10 seconds they where back at the Opera Hall."

"Fan out and search for it, when you find it, call me" Robin ordered. They raced into the building and began looking all around for bombs.

Robin suddenly stopped and began to think. This was Slade so he'd probably put the bombs where they'd last think to look. Where could that be?

Then the answer came up, _where you were hiding._

He dashed into the theatre and jumped up into the rafters. Sure enough the bombs were lying there, sitting in a box with a computer hooked up to them. The William Tell Overture was playing below him as Robin hooked up his own portable computer and began hacking. The bomb was in some sort of ignition sequence where a code had to be input to trigger the explosion, but that didn't make sense as Robin had isolated the system and the only other thing happening other than his hacking was the music below. Then he realized it, _the music was the password, he had until the end of the song._

He worked feverishly, hacking and hacking. He finally was able to find the shutdown functions and worked to hack those. The song was ending and was in it's last line.

Just as the last note was played Robin hit a last button and the bomb now read "_ignition sequence aborted."_

Robin wiped sweat off of his forehead at the close shave he'd just had. Then he called in the team in order to get rid of the bomb. After that was done they all sat down in one of the balconies and listened to the Senator's speech.

"I will now announce the subject of my speech, Luthorcorps and its corruptions."

* * *

The room with seven screens of light silhouettes was again in use. One of the men said _"Robin has piqued my interest; he seemed obsessed with me as I did my mission. He also shows great potential, perhaps as a recruit later on."_

"_That aside, he foiled the mission. The bomb didn't go off and the Senator delivered his speech. Luthorcorps stocks have fallen drastically as a result and as one of our biggest contributors that is a serious blow. We shall have to keep a closer eye on this Robin. We shall recruit him should he prove worthy and kill him should he refuse."_

* * *

The Senator had given the team a great farewell party and had given them each a generous parting gift of $1,000. He was quite rich so that wasn't very much to him.

Back at the Mountain Batman was waiting for them. They lined up, waiting for a dressing down as Batman paced up and down their row. But then he simply said "all of you except Robin, hit the showers and head home, I need to talk to him in private."

The complied and left. Once they had gone Batman simply looked at Robin and Robin matched his gaze uncomfortably, he felt like he was 10 again and had just messed up on a mission for Batman.

"I haven't read the report yet, so I'll give you this one chance to explain it from your side Robin, don't waste it."

Robin launched into an explanation and when he got to the part about who the assassin had been Batman nodded at the revelation. But Robin had the distinct impression he understood the way Robin had acted, perhaps better than Robin himself. Once he was done Batman said "I'm not going to tell you that what you did was right, I'm just going to say that I understand how you feel. The Joker makes me feel like that all the time but I control it. You cannot allow your emotions to run wild and to simply abandon your team when they need you."

Robin nodded and mentioned the fear attack he had had. Batman frowned and said that he would search for Kent Nelson/Dr. Fate who'd vanished a few weeks back.

Then he did something that startled Robin greatly but for which he was very grateful. He put his hand on Robin's shoulder and said "if you ever need someone to talk to, Wayne Manor is always open to you."

Robin nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He'd meant to say thank you but couldn't. He thought Batman understood though.

Batman walked through the teleporter and was gone. Robin was exhausted so he left to go to sleep. That night he found himself in an argument, with himself. They where arguing over cowardice and the dreams last much of the night for Robin.

* * *

_Dear Diary,_

_Robin is continuing to act weird. Today he left the whole team behind to follow a guy I never even heard of before. His name was Deathduck or something. I should start asking some of the other members of the team, maybe together we can trick him into telling us why he's changed._

_Kid Flash diary entry #2_

* * *

Aqualad sat in bed thinking. He was wondering what had possessed Robin in today's mission. Robin usually had been calm and planned ahead, but today he had simply pursued the villain with a simpleminded doggedness.

He was tired and he decided to think about it in the morning. He went to bed.

* * *

_I'm really sorry on the wait of this one. I hope it's up to par. _

_The good news is I graduate today on June 8, 2011. _

_I hope this is a good chapter. Part of it is inspired by a movie; see if you can guess which one._

_Time for another vote, would you like me to do my other filler which was the runner up for this chapter or would you like me to skip to the episode "Schooled?"_

_The problem that caused delayed in this chapter was that I kept getting distracted by numerous fun stuff over the weekends. Finally I just bit the bullet and did it. I hope you like it. _

_I showed who one of the members of the board of the Light is, I hope you could figure it out._

_**Now for the mailbag:**_

WiseGirl-AC

This was so totally wicked! Wally is starting to get all detective-like! Yay! Just waitin to see the reactions and all that jazz. You're doin an epic job here with this story by the way! Question: who here can't WAIT for the new episodes in like, 2 and a half weeks? Lolz! But anyways, as I write this review at 3:41 am, please excuse my excessive use of punctuation!

P.S. I totally didn't know the whole voice thing! I mean, I had some suspicions, but now I can be sure! Thanks!

_Well now you know about the voice thing. Thanks for the review. Yes, Wally is the first to notice the obvious change in Robin._

SuperninjaX

Ooh, KF is getting suspicious! BOOOOYAAAAAH!

_Not just him anymore, but he will be the most vocal about it undoubtedly._

potterinu

If you are going with the easily predictable/boring pairings or no pairings please go with none. I will not bring it up again as to not annoy you. I just find supermartian and spitfire to an extent to be forced on us and it rubs me the wrong way. Like I said this will be the last time I bring it up to avoid annoying you. Oh and I hope this universes version of the teen titans somehow end up interacting with Robin. :)

_My intent isn't to make this into a romance story. In fact I think the main romance will lie with Robin and Starfire and how they miss each other. I might touch on the pairings occasionally but rest assured I don't intend for them to dominate the story._

_Thanks for your concerns._

David-El

Not bad, but I think YJ Rob is going to have quite a bit of trouble when he comes back to his body, and I'm sure he is having trouble in TT Rob's body. Oh, and one small correction. In your Author's note at the end, you said that Guy was the other GL. Not quite true, assuming you're talking about YJ universe. On Earth-16, only Hal and John Stewart are members of the League. Guy isn't even confirmed as existing right now.

_I never said that Guy was in the League, just that his is a Green Lantern. There have been multiple Green lanterns and many where aliens. I don't mean to be, well, mean though. _

_Both Robin's certainly will have problems with they body they inhabit._

KaliAnn

I really am enjoying this! I think its great how dedicated this Robin is when it comes to securing the safety and future for his new team. His plans are well thought out of and that he's always prepared for those quirks like Wally. He's certainly surprising everyone, but I like that Skip is trying to discreetly help him back to his world. I loved that line you used from Apprentice and its not surprising he's comparing the new team to his old one. I'm so looking forward to more! As for the filler that might be interesting to read and see Robin's reaction if he might the counterpart of one his friends.

_If Robin is anything it is dedicated. He also probably learned that it pays off to plan for as many outcomes as possible. I still have fillers planned where he meats alternate versions of his friends._

_Thanks to a great reviewer._

TobiGB

Great chapter and I think you should go with the second idea, well anyway I wander if Robin will be included in the Dr. Fate mission?

I look forward to the next chapter and what you have in store for us.

_Gaah! Why must reviewers always ask questions I cannot answer? Just kidding, lol. _

_Be certain, I have a lot in store for you._

Twikadevra

I liked this one with Wally and Robin interaction. But shouldn't Wally be suspicious of Robin since the Cadmus mission? I mean they've technically been best friends before they joined YJ, so I'm wondering why he hasn't taken further notice of this change...

Anyways, I think Wally is so far good in character, even though he is a little bit whiny and very stubborn he's just like that. Bit annoying really. :/ Lol.

Please update soon! :D And also, when are you going to show in YJ Robin's point of view through TT Robin's body? Lol, I can just imagine YJ Robin cracking on TT Robin's uniform. Lol, no offence at all to TT Robin lovers, but his traffic coloured uniform always cracks me up :P

_He probably has been since the Cadmus mission but has neglected to voice it before now. I hope you like this update. Kid Flash can be somewhat annoying when he in his stupidity messes things up._

Gleeful-Love

Please update soon! Btw, do you think you could (somehow) send the other titans in the YJ in the future? Thanks! I just like Teen Titans better then Young Justice ^^;

_I am pretty certain that in one of my fillers the YJ versions of Titans will make appearances._

Riqis Inna Sunja

That was great! wasnt that line from beastboy when robin became slades apprentice? i think u should do the familiar face assailant filler first! best of luck and great job!

_YOU ARE CORRECT SIR! Have a cookie. 'hands you a cookie'_

_Just don't get crumbs on my fic._

_Thanks, and I hope you liked the filler._

Evil Soul

Great chapter you've got here. Only issue I can think of is at the end of the fifth or so paragraph. The final sentence about Robin thinking the younger Robin could've done better with his training was sort of hard to understand at first and I had to read it a couple of times to understand.

Loved how you showed TT-Robin's leadership during the mission, nd how during his fight with Kobra - I think that was the name, it was the leader guy - you showed that while he is more skilled than YJ-Robin, he needs to train his body more. I'm hoping in upcoming chapters you have Robin learning more about YJ-Robin so he can get away with the deception more easily, mostly since after KF calling him thirteen I feel he would check that out to make sure he's got his facts right. I don't think he would dismiss it as a crack about his height or something without checking.

For the filler, I'm going to go with having the team defending a prominent person with a familiar face making a cameo as the assailant for the first one - hope it's Deathstroke (Slade) or a character who has appeared in YJ like Cheshire. I'd also like more fillers where Robin is in Gotham with Batman and Batgirl because he did say he'd visit and Dick Grayson does have school.

I know that the first nine episodes of Young Justice take place over a six month period, though I don't remember the dates, and as wondering if your going to use that since in an earlier chapter you had them talking to Speedy on July 17th or something.

As for romance and pairing, I'm okay with Superboy/Miss M since it's in the show, and Robin with Starfire/Batgirl/Raven/Artemis.

This is because in the TT show he does have something with Starfire, and Dick Grayson and Barbra Gordon are usually together in whatever media they both appear in. In TT comics Raven had a thing for Dick (although one-sided) and in the cartoon I just feel they make a better couple than Robin/Starfire and Raven/Beastboy, though I'm fine with them just being really close friends as well. As for Robin/Artemis, well that's really more "What if?" than anything else on my part.

For KF/Artemis I personally can't see it, but early episodes yet. I could deal with that, I'd just prefer not to, you know?

Whatever you do regarding pairings - if any at all - don't make it a major thing. TT never did, they just gave hints, and in YJ they do it a little more, but the romance isn't what either show is about. Plus, their teenagers! How many teenagers stay with their first partner forever in this day and age? Besides that, there's an over abundance of romance in media these days, which makes it all sort "yeah seen this before. Boring!" for me.

Keep the chapters coming my friend, it is a brillant story you have here. Like how KF's noticing the differences in Robin, by the way.

_You where right about the assailant. Thanks a lot for the long review. Romance will not be a big part if I can help it. And I agree, media tends to believe that it has to add romance or what they in many cases foolishly call "love." (I mean that what is shown today a lot is more of infatuation rather than love.)_

_Sorry about the confusing sentence, I hope you didn't run into the problem here. _

PastaSentient

Awesome! Looking forward to the next chapter!

_Thanks, it's nice to have another reviewer. :)_

* * *

_One last thing. In case any of you are interested my Youtube account runs under the same name as this one. Just to let you know. It has practically the same launch date as this account. _

_Please vote and review. Thanks a lot for reading my story._

_Good Day and God Bless,_

_Sincerely, LordGodsServant_


	10. Tracking a Tracer

_This is a filler, my next chapter will be "Schooled" I hope you like this._

_The first two new heroes that appear in this chapter, their design is that of the versions found in Batman: The Brave and the Bold. _

* * *

Robin was once again hacking. It was a few days after their last mission and he was trying to extract data from the Penguin and Black Mask in Gotham. He'd already worked on the data that Aqualad had gotten for him in Santa Prisca. He'd hacked until he'd come up against a Firewall that he had no idea how to beat. The Firewall was structured in such a way so that there was only one way to get in and that was through a password. Robin technically could look at all the data but it would just look like gibberish to him. The data was coded in numbers that corresponded to letters in an alphabet. The problem occurred in that he didn't know which alphabet from what language, it could be English or it could very well be Elvish. The password was the key to the entire data. The data was coded so that each letter in the alphabet used was attached to the letter after it. Thus the letter "A" would actually be a letter "B" in the code. To put it simply the word "Cat" in the code would be "Bzs." The code didn't stop there though, the word that was the password, all the letters in that word stayed the same, they didn't move at all.

Robin had no idea where to start so he put the code aside to work on later. Currently he had discovered that they had a long chain of high end weapons deals. He was trying to hack to find out the locations of the pit stops on the chain so he could shut them down. He had almost got it when suddenly the screen flashed "ACCESS CUT OFF." He had been booted out of the system.

For several more hours he tried to access the programs he'd planted in their systems but couldn't. He surmised that they had done a complete system wipe to get rid of his hacks. Finally, he decided he needed to go to Gotham himself to hack their system.

He began packing. He packed several utility belts and a good amount of food. He then got his motorcycle and began riding it slowly towards the teleporters. When he got it into the main room he left it there and walked to the kitchen. Once he got in there he saw that all three of the other people living in the base were there. Skip had a huge plate of Chicken in front of him that he was tearing into with gusto, Superboy was (Robin had to exert great self-control to keep from laughing) trying to learn how to bake some cookies. Megan was helping him. Superboy grabbed an egg and held it over a bowl. He tried to crack it gently but he squeezed too hard and it cracked with both the yolk and the shell falling in. He growled and Megan helped him with the next one. He managed to do it gently this time but Robin noted he was having a lot of trouble controlling his powers. He'd have to have a chat with Superman about that later.

They noticed his presence and looked towards him (Skip still stuffing food in his mouth.) Megan said "Hey Robin! Did you come to help me teach Superboy how to cook?"

Robin grinned "sorry, I just came to tell you guys that I'm going to be away for a bit, I have to find some criminals in Gotham. Hopefully I'll be back soon."

The three looked interested as Robin turned and left the room. He got back into the main room but before he could go through the teleporter the other three came running into the room. Robin turned and looked at them and Megan said "we want to come with you!"

Robin blinked and then said "thanks for the offer guys but this is a dangerous mission and you might ge-"

"Like you did last time."

Robin opened his mouth to protest but then stopped because he remembered that during the mission with Slade he'd failed because he'd done it all alone. Superboy crossed his arms and looked at him with a face that said "you know I'm right."

Robin thought a little while more, this could be a good opportunity for them to get some more experience in the field and for him to know them better. Finally he said "alright you can come, go pack whatever you want and meet me here in 10 minutes."

They all nodded and ran off. Robin walked up to the computer and sent a call to Bruce. After a few moments it opened up and Batman's face appeared on the screen "what is it Robin?"

"I'll need to come back to Gotham for awhile to work a case, so I'll need to use the Batcave."

Batman nodded "you knew I would give you that no problem so why are you really calling?"

Robin looked a little uncomfortable "well, the other three who live in the base with me wanted to come and I said they could. I was wondering if you wanted me to keep them out of the Batcave or if I could bring them into it. I wouldn't reveal our secret identities to them."

Batman looked pensive, Robin was wondering what he would decide. This Batman seemed more lax than his had been, but of course his Robin had been extremely comfortable in his role as sidekick.

"Very well, I'll allow them to use the Batcave, provided they aren't told our secret identities."

Robin nodded and thanked him. About 10 minutes later the others came back into the room. Superboy had a simple backpack that wasn't very big, Megan was levitating several backpacks, but Skip was riding on top of an enormous dog that looked more like a wolf. But Skip had about 5 large dogs following him and all where slung about with various foods, many of them were ones Robin had never seen before and some of them looked downright disgusting.

"Uh, Skip, what's with all the food?"

"_I'm just really hungry."_

"Skip, some of that stuff is bigger than you are."

"_Yeah, so."_

Robin slapped his head and asked "how long have you been eating like this?"

"_I just started nibbling on some eggs this morning and now I can't stop eating."_

He said this while trying to tug some food off one of his dogs so it made the phrase quite comical. Megan giggled and Robin chuckled. Then Robin set the teleporter and they all walked through it.

As they came out on the other side they heard the computerized voice "_recognized coordinates unknown, Superboy, Robin, Ms. Martian, Skip."_

Skip and Megan gasped as they saw where they were, Superboy just mutely looked around. The Batcave stretched out before them.

Before they could move Robin turned around and said "now before you go anywhere I need to make one thing clear, Batman let you in here as a favor, he doesn't want his or my secret identities compromised so while you can wander around a bit don't go too far."

They all nodded and then Robin went to go use the Bat-Computer. He brought up the extensive files that Batman kept on the criminal underworld of Gotham. He specifically looked up the Black Mask and the Penguin. Penguin had lately escaped Arkham and was at large on the streets of Gotham.

The others admired the cave. Megan was particularly interested in the trophy section. Objects taken from various villains where kept in pristine condition by someone. She was especially interested in the Joker section. She was looking at what seemed to be a stretching rack when she heard a voice behind her "the Joker almost tore me in two on that thing."

She whirled around to see Batman staring at her with a girl who had red hair, a black cowl and purple costume on behind him. Batman then walked over towards Robin. Batgirl walked up to Megan and said "nice to meet you, I'm Batgirl."

"I'm Megan, nice to meet you too."

They shook hands.

Batman walked up behind Robin and watched his progress. He was now looking up the time when Black Mask's skyscraper was closed.

"What's you're plan?"

Robin finished and then turned around "I'm going to break into the skyscraper and hack the mainframe to get the data I need. They got rid of my hacking programs so I need to get in there directly."

Batman nodded and then said "do you need any help?

"I already have help" Robin said, gesturing to his friends from Mt. Justice.

"I meant do you want my help?"

Robin considered this, with his own Batman he would've probably said "no" right away but (he was surprised to admit it to himself) he liked this Batman better than his own. The idea of putting himself back where he had been when he'd started his hero career wasn't one he relished but he would be the first to admit he had stubbornness issues. This was an opportunity to break that down, at least the bad part of it.

With great effort he said "fine, I'd like your help."

Batman smiled and then said "when were you planning to go there?"

"11:00 pm."

"We can wait in the Batcave for that time."

He then went off to introduce the others to some video games he'd had installed just in case he needed to keep someone busy and inside the Batcave. Robin played some with the others as they waited but noticed that Skip kept horking down enough food to make him sick every half-hour. Skip also needed to use the restroom a lot for apparent reasons.

Finally the allotted time came and they all went through the teleporter to a place in Gotham close to Black Mask's skyscraper. They approached the skyscraper through an alleyway. Buildings in Gotham always where built slap up against each other as people competed for more and more space. They got to the end of the alleyway and Robin and Batman peered out at the building. Several entrances were along the side in the alleyway facing them and several guards patrolled it. Robin turned to Batman and said "so what's the plan."

"You tell me, you're leading the team."

Robin looked at him with disbelief "are you saying that you'll follow me instead of vice versa?"

Batman nodded with the tiniest trace of a smiled coloring his face.

Still shocked Robin said "you and I will take out the two guards and disable the security for the door going down. Superboy will break it open and then we'll make our way to the computer lab."

They all nodded and set to work.

The two guards both where a bit bleary, it being late at night. Thus they never heard the two cloaked figures or the lassos that tied them up. Before they could think to cry out however two shadowy figures had gagged them and had confiscated their walkie talkies.

The gang moved inside.

Once inside Robin said "Superboy, use your heat vision, who's in the vicinity besides us?"

It looked like Superboy squinted as he engaged his X-Ray vision combined with his Thermal Vision.

"Some of the rooms are occupied but they're probably just people working late, there are several guards but I can lead us away from them."

Robin nodded and they continued on. Finally after descending many stairs they got to the computer lab in the Basement. These were hooked directly into the mainframe. Robin hooked in his hacker tool and began hacking. While he was doing that he said "look around, make sure we aren't in danger, if you see any guards, knock them out."

The others nodded and fanned out a bit. Robin continued hacking. The Black Mask had reuploaded the information after the system wipe and Robin sought to ferret out that information. After about 5 minutes the others came back. Finally, Robin found the info he was looking for and began downloading it.

The download took about 3 minutes but to them it seemed like an hour. Finally it was done and they began sneaking back outside. Surprisingly nothing happened, they made it back out without a problem and took the teleporter back to the Batcave.

Back at the cave, the first thing Robin did was ask Megan to get the Bio-ship and store it somewhere outside Gotham and wait for them, because they'd need it soon. As she left Robin walked up to the Bat-Computer and inserted the information he'd gotten. A bunch of what looked like random gibberish appeared on the screen.

"Why is the data fragmented?" Batman asked.

"Mask only stored half of it in his mainframe, probably a precaution after they found my viruses. I'll bet my cape that Penguin has the rest of it in his Nightclub."

The Penguin's main staging ground for his schemes was his nightclub named "_The Iceberg."_

"Maybe you and I should go there on your time off" Batgirl said. Robin looked at her in confusion and then shook his head and said "anyway, that's our next target."

Batman nodded and asked "are you planning on going there immediately?"

"Yes, now's as good a time as any."

They all walked back into the teleporter. They came out near the Nightclub and climbed to the top of a building overlooking it. It strangely was closed.

"They know we're coming" Robin muttered. Batman nodded and Superboy engaged his vision again.

"Nobody's inside."

"That's weird . . . we're going to go in through the top through the air ducts. We'll make our way to the computer lab from then on. Skip and his hounds can keep watch."

Batman nodded and he, Robin, and Batgirl fired off their grapples. Robin grabbed Superboy by the arm as they swung onto the roof of the nightclub. They found the air duct and got into it. Robin had been in this building many times in his career with his Batman so he knew the building like the back of his hand. They made their way easily to the basement which contained a few high-level computers.

Robin began his usual hacking procedure. Then Skip's voice was heard in all of their heads besides Superboy "_guys, a lot of people are gathering outside the Nightclub. They're surrounding it. Some have gone in already, I think they were waiting to attack anyone who came in without permission."_

Robin nodded and informed Superboy. Then he said "I need you three to hold them off for at most five minutes, I should be done by then. Batman and Superboy nodded and walked off quickly.

* * *

The gang members moved through the silent night club. They were one of many that inhabited the dark underworld of Gotham and they had been hired by Penguin to protect his Nightclub. They had seen three figures go in through the top and now moved to capture them. Three entered a room and surveyed it. Their comrades outside moved on, not noticing that they didn't return.

One man walked into another room and they all heard some grunts and the sound of a body hitting the floor. One scared crook backed up into another door and a hand literally broke through the door and pulled both him and the door back into the room. As the criminals turned to look at the doorless door frame a bunch of smoke bombs landed at their feet and exploded.

The criminals didn't know which way to look as three figures entered the room and began laying into their ranks. More and more rushed in, only to be met by a defense the likes of which they had never even imagined. There were a lot of gang members and they all attacked but the mantle of Batman held great fear and any who he brought along were certain to inspire fear in any criminal. Needless to say the criminals were skittish with this fight. Their morale dropped with each punch thrown by the three crimefighters.

The final stroke came when a loud baying was heard and a hoard of dogs, most of them common strays rushed in with Skip on the largest one leading the charge. The dogs attacked the men whose lines disintegrated. They ran away as fast as their legs could carry them.

Back inside Batman, Batgirl, and Superboy wondered at all the dogs milling around.

"You certainly seem to have good control over them" Batman remarked.

"_I just gave them the impulse to attack the gang members, they did the rest."_

Robin came up from the downstairs with a grin on his face.

"Did you get the data?"

"Yep, looks like the route passes through a number of small towns but the main stop before it leaves the states is in El Paso, Texas."

Robin turned to his mentor and Batgirl "thanks a lot for your help, I really enjoyed it. Goodbye."

He began to walk away but felt Batman's hand on his shoulder "wait, you don't seriously expect me to sit around and twiddle my thumbs while a lead like this is ready and waiting. I'm coming."

Robin sighed and said "fine." Actually he felt quite good, this reminded him of the better moments he'd had with his Batman, they'd been bros, father and son, mentor and student, and he'd been living the dream of becoming a hero, a legend. He mused as he walked out of the nightclub and through an alleyway with the others behind him that he really was liking this gig as Robin again with the way this Batman acted.

Then several people unexpectedly jumped out of side-passages and grabbed Robin. He struggled as the dragged him away and he heard Batman's shout.

"Still serving as lackey to the Dark Knight eh, I thought sooner or later you'd get tired of shining his utility belt" one of the crooks said mockingly to Robin.

"Nah he's too much of a wimp, he needs Batman he can't do anything without him and will always be chained at the hip to him. How pathetic that he can't be anything besides apprentice to Batman."

The others who were running after the crooks suddenly heard a scream sounding nearly as insane as the Joker's and then yells and cries of pain. They ran around the corner and saw Robin beating the four men. He'd broken their noses and twisted several of their ankles. Once they fell to the ground Robin didn't stop but continued kicking them.

"ROBIN! STOP!" Batman ordered and grabbed Robin on the shoulder. Robin whirled around and seemed he was going to attack Batman, indeed Batman felt through Robin's body language that he would've loved to have done nothing less than lay into him.

But then Robin seemed gain control of himself and forced huge breaths to calm himself down. Then he said "Megan will be at the edge of the city in a few hours, we need to meet her." Then he walked off.

The others stared in astonishment off after him and then, remembering that they were coming with him, followed.

* * *

The whole time they waited for Megan Robin didn't speak. He was regretting his outburst but what the crooks had said had hit one of his worst nerves, and one of his great fears. Worse, it seemed to have spoiled the affection he had been starting to feel for this Batman, whenever he saw the symbol on Batman's chest and the cowl a wave of hatred coursed through him. Eventually he reined in his emotions but the fact remained that the good feeling he'd had about Batman joining him on the mission had been spoiled.

Then Megan finally arrived he informed her of the destination and left it at that. She felt worried at his countenance but didn't press him. The Bio-Ship would get to El Paso about noon the next day. Skip began eating again.

After everyone had mostly gone to bed Robin sat staring out of the window. Batman walked up behind him "you should get some rest, if you want to lead effectively then you need your rest."

Batman noticed Robin's fist curl into knuckles as Batman spoke to him.

"What did the gang members say to you concerning me?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Don't lie Robin, not even to yourself, especially not to yourself. If I'm anything like the Batman you knew he would've taught you not to do that. They said something as evidenced by you wanting to drive your fist into my face whenever I talk to you."

A long silence greeted them. Finally Robin spoke.

"They mocked me" he said simply, not saying about what.

"They mocked you about being my apprentice" Batman stated simply.

Robin turned and nodded "how did you-?"

"A matter of what I know about you. You left your Batman and formed your own Justice League per say, you wish for people to view you apart from Batman, and are intensely riled whenever someone tries to force you back under my cowl so to speak. Thus, one of the only things that is related to me to make you so angry would be to remind you of how people view you as a sidekick in this universe."

Robin looked away.

"I'm sorry Robin. I know this must be frustrating for you. Having to live the life you hated all over again. I know that I probably don't know what it feels like, never being a sidekick myself but I will try to make this as painless as possible for you."

Robin turned back, the anger was gone. He smiled and said "thanks, you know, you're not so bad . . . for a Batman."

Both of them grinned.

* * *

They arrived in El Paso on schedule. Robin had Megan put the Bio-Ship in Camouflage Mode as they descended. They exited on top of a building and Robin looked around using some binoculars.

"Well, where's the secret hideout where their stashing all these weapons?" Superboy asked.

"The information obtained didn't tell anywhere specific but gave a riddle. It reads:

_When you come to the place I pointed_

_Look out for the right place_

_And then on the time appointed_

_Go to the building with both his and my face_

"Well that's a load of gibberish" Superboy commented. Megan however wasn't brought down by the riddle "well we're obviously gonna solve it, we have the worlds greatest Detectives right here with us!"

Robin smiled, grateful she had said he was on par with Batman.

"Actually it tells us a great deal, I gained the times when the people working the arms dealership hand off weapons, the "appointed time." It also mentions that the building they're using has both the Black Mask and the Penguin's "face" on it. Most likely it's has a logo that's a combo of their motifs."

Megan clapped at his solution and the others smiled. Then they heard an explosion. They all looked over the edge and saw that a bank had smoke coming out of it and a lot of people were rushing into it. The people rushing were all dressed identically, probably part of a gang conducting a joint robbery. Robin looked at Batman and they nodded.

"TEAM GO!"

The three caped crimefighters leapt off the building top and shot their grapples. Superboy simple leapt off and Megan flew after them.

Skip watched them go, it looked like they had the fight well in hand and he was hungry again. He had a dog bring him a chicken leg and he began eating it while watching the fight like a kid watching the movies. He held the piece of chicken under one of the dog's noses and asked "_you guys want some?"_

* * *

Down on the ground the gang was astonished to see 5 heroes suddenly fall out of the sky so to speak to stop them. They immediately went to work fighting. Those who did hand to hand combat got up close and personal while Megan pelted them with bits of whatever she could find.

Partway through the fight Robin was fighting a man who seemed to have some martial arts skill. The man advanced and Robin feinted a hit to the face. As the man started to block Robin's foot slammed up into his crotch. As he fell over in agony another goon leapt and landed on Robin's back. As Robin struggled he suddenly heard what sounded like a laser blast and the man on Robin was flung off. Looking up he saw that what looked like a teenager in black and blue armor stood before him. The armor had several bug-like qualities; it had what looked like dragonfly wings, bug feet and bug eyes.

The armor seemed to have sprouted laser guns but they quickly collapsed back into the suit. Then Robin recognized him, the Blue Beetle. The Blue Beetle had been one of the potential recruits Robin had considered during the war with the Brotherhood of Evil. He was a regular contact with the League and the superhero community at large but only a few knew his true identity, Robin was one of the few. After working with Batman and Robin for a bit he revealed his secret identity to them, Jaime Reyes.

Robin got up as Blue Beetle walked up and helped him up.

"You alright man?"

"Yeah, who're you?"

"The names Blue Beetle. Who're yo- . . . yo . . . your . . . your"

"Robin."

"DUDE YOUR ROBIN! AND HE'S . . . HE'S . . . BATMAN GET OUT!"

The others had practically wrapped up the fight and walked over to the two young heroes. Blue Beetle was gawking at Batman with his mouth wide open until Batman held his hand forward and said "I'm Batman, pleased to meet you."

The young hero grabbed Batman's hand and shook it quite vigorously. Robin cleared his throat and said "I think we should get back to the ship in order to begin our search."

Batman nodded and they began walking back towards the Bio-Ship when they were stopped by the voice of Blue Beetle.

"Wait, you guys are looking for a lead here? Why not come over to my place, I know this town way better than you guys."

Robin considered this for a bit, then he turned around and said "okay, just lead the way."

Blue Beetle smiled and did as he had been told.

* * *

Along the way to his home, or rather his hangout outside his home Blue Beetle told them his name. Robin played the part of not knowing but privately began to evaluate him, if was to have any say in it Jaime might help him in the battle against the Light.

Jaime's hangout consisted of a large shed that had a TV, a computer and several other features.

"Put it together myself" he said as he showed them it. Then he sat down and asked "so, what are you guys looking for in my neck of the woods?"

"We are tracking a weapons trade route and here is the last stop off before the weapons leave the United States. We have a clue that will help us find the place but perhaps you could help narrow the search."

Jaime thought for a moment "well, there's a casino that belongs to a crime-lord that I know of. Practically everyone does know that he's a crime lord."

The others nodded but Megan asked "why hasn't anyone arrested him then?"

"Lack of evidence, I've actually been trying to gather something to implicate him but haven't gotten anywhere so far."

"The clue said the building had a logo concerning a Black Mask and a Penguin, does that help."

Jaime grinned "the Casino's name is the Masked Penguin and its logo is a kung fu penguin with a Black Mask."

"Sounds like our place."

They all got up and left for the Casino.

* * *

The Penguin was currently playing a game of poker. He was seeing that the last of the cargo was being flown out of the country while the Black Mask had gone on ahead. He played well into the night and finally retired. He left and got into a limousine, not noticing the black figures that came out of the air-ducts of the building to follow him.

He had his driver take him back to the hotel and never noticed when a gloved hand placed a weird shaped device on his ceiling.

* * *

Robin sat back in Jaime's hangout, listening to the bug he'd placed in the Penguin's room. It was late and most of the others had just gone to bed. He heard Batgirl coming up behind him and said "what do you want Batgirl?"

"Sheesh, why so serious? I was just coming to say you should get some sleep."

"I can't just yet; I need to get as much info as I can."

"So in other words, you're a stupid workaholic, how you ever could think your different than Bruce I don't know."

Robin was silent as he continued to use the bug which had both a camera and listening abilities. Then Batgirl placed a hand on his shoulder and said "maybe sometime I could show you the nightlife in Gotham."

Robin froze, and then forced himself to go back to work. Batgirl smiled at him and gave him a hug. Robin froze when she hugged him and sat still when she left. He then shut down the computer though he left it recording and walked off towards the Bio-Ship. Before he walked up and in however he heard Megan's voice whisper to someone "I'm cold."

"Well light a fire or something."

"Martian's are weak to fire . . . do you think I could . . . maybe . . . sleep . . . next to you?"

"W-well I-I g-guess so."

Robin waited a few minutes then walked inside. He saw that Megan and Superboy where sleeping in the same bunk. He smiled as he closed the door and made his bed, they reminded him of Starfire and himself so much. Megan the sweet innocent girl and Superboy the tough and serious guy. But as he drifted off to sleep he thought  
_I'm not as serious as Superboy though . . . right?"_

He never received an answer as he was fast asleep.

* * *

The next day both Robin and Batman rose early and examined all the recorded material. It yielded one useful piece of information. The Penguin was leaving today and soon. Batman rousted the others up while Robin went to investigate the plane the Penguin was leaving on. Ever careful he placed a tracer on it and then returned to the others. Jaime had joined them and Robin addressed them all.

"Now, we're going to follow the Penguin to wherever he's going in his jet today. He's leaving any minute now. Jaime, I don't want to drag you into this so you can stay here."

"No way man, I always dreamed of an adventure like this. But I have one question."

"Ask away."

"Why are you in command, shouldn't Batman be leading us."

Jaime didn't expect the look of annoyance that came over Robin's face and turned as Batman answered "Robin is leading this time in order to gain experience, I believe he's ready."

"Oh, okay. Still, if you ever need me my cell phone number is-."

But what his cell phone identity was they never found out for at that moment a huge green glove seeming to be composed of energy smashed down in the middle of them and they all were flung back.

Robin got up coughing and looked up to see a man flying down towards them. He instantly recognized the man as a Green Lantern, the greenish glow and the ring gave that away. But the man wasn't the two Lanterns in the League he had red/orange hair and had a look of extreme determination on his face. He landed and began walking towards Blue Beetle. Jaime backed up, wearing a confused look.

"I'll give you one chance to give up Scarab."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Playing dumb eh, fine then, more of a fight for me."

Batman stepped in front of Jaime "stand down Gardner, the League has this under control."

"Standing up for the Scarab eh Batman, well you won't stop Guy Gardner from fulfilling his duties as a Green Lantern!"

With that the man attacked. He slammed Batman out of the way and shot a huge fist off towards Blue Beetle. It hit him and he fell on his back some 20 feet away. Robin wasted no time talking but flung some cords that promptly wrapped themselves around Gardner's waste. He conjured up a green scissor's that cut off the bonds and blasted at Robin with blasts of green energy.

He then turned and charged at Jaime. He formed a large spiked mace which he used to smash the teen into the air. Then he used it to fend off rocks being flung at him by Ms. Martian. He conjured up a large green bow and shot a large blunt arrow at the girl. Before it hit her however Superboy leapt down and smashed it into pieces. Then Superboy leapt at the man. Robin charged as well as Jaime got up and did the same.

In response to the three pronged attack Guy Gardner created a spiked ball on the end of a chain and swung it around. It struck both Superboy and Jaime but Robin avoided it and punched the man straight in the face. He stumbled back and with a growl of anger leapt into the air and formed a large green mortar cannon which began firing off rounds at all of them. They all ducked and dodged as the rounds hit the ground and caused large explosions. Batman had run into the bio-ship in order to do something, leaving the others at the mercy of the rampaging Lantern.

Jaime engaged his rockets as Gardner aimed at him.

"C'mon suit, gimme something to use!"

In answer the suit suddenly grew large laser guns out of its arms and shot them straight at Guy. They hit and slammed Guy into the ground. He got out of the sizable crater and roared with rage, he seemed to have temper issues and blasted back at Beetle while forming a large punching glove. He hit Jaime and he fell to Earth. Gardner propelled himself at the downed hero with the punching glove ready to crush him, only to be slammed into by Superboy mid-flight and knocked to Earth himself. He got up and formed an overlarge tank which he hopped into and began driving towards them. The tank fired and a shell headed straight for Superboy. Megan plucked him out of the way and Robin shouted orders.

"SUPERBOY, BATGIRL, YOU KEEP HIS FOCUS, MEGAN AND JAIME WILL BE ON RANGED ATTACK WHILE I GO AROUND BEHIND HIM!"

They all nodded and went to work. Superboy charged, only to be knocked back by a shot from the tank. Batgirld charged but put more energy into dodging the blasts. Jaime pelted it with laser blasts while Megan did likewise with rocks. Robin snuck off to the side and around the back. He snuck up behind the tank and got on it. Finding the entrance hatch he quietly as he could opened it. Gardner, who was completely focused on blasting the others, didn't hear him. Gardner suddenly felt a huge blow to the back of his head and he fell unconscious. The Tank around them dissolved.

* * *

When Guy Gardner woke up the first thing he saw clearly was the Blue Beetle. He tried to leap at him but found himself immobilized by green bands. Looking around he saw that the two Green Lanterns who were part of the League, Hal Jordan and John Stewart, holding him down.

"What are you doing? Attack the Scarab!"

"Gardner, if you'd have just listened before you dashed off you would've known why we're allowing the kid to keep the Scarab."

Batman explained the situation to the other three who had no idea of what was going on.

"Blue Beetle here, his suit which gives him his powers comes from an ancient civilization of people called the Reach. Unfortunately they were galactic conquerors and their arch-nemeses were the Green Lanterns. The Lanterns eventually won but the Reach scattered many Scarabs like the one our friend uses across the universe. Each Scarab picks a host and makes them into heroes, biding their time before the Scarabs will unite in order to destroy the Lanterns. Upon coming into contact with the Lanterns in the League Jaime's suit tried to destroy them, but Jaime managed to rein it into his will. The League decided to work with Jaime on the suit to study it and make counter-measures for the eventual Reach invasion. Jaime agreed and we have been studying the suit ever since."

Robin nodded, memorizing every detail, he'd done much the same thing with Sladebots. The Lantern's finished explaining things to Guy and he walked over to them. He walked up to Jaime and said in a rather embarrassed voice "uh, sorry I went medieval on you. I kinda gotta work on my anger issues."

"No big."

As the two League Lantern's flew off everyone turned to Robin "so, what did we miss due to the fight Robin?"

Robin checked the tracer he had on Penguin's plane. It was far out over the Atlantic, almost to Europe.

"Well, Penguin's already got a good headstart on us but we can still trace him."

Gardner's voice broke in "wait, you guys missed someone because of me?"

"Sort of."

"Well, I gotta come with to make it up to yeh, Guy Gardner never lets a criminal get away."

Robin stared at him, thinking of excuses to make to keep him from coming. But then he thought that with what Penguin and Mask had been shipping they could use some muscle besides Superboy.

"Fine, I'll let you join up for the duration of the trip."

Guy punched his fist in anticipation but then said "I just got one question?"

"Sure."

"Why are you leading?"

Robin threw up his hands as Superboy and Batman slapped their foreheads.

* * *

The tracer led Robin to a place he had most certainly _not_ expected. It led him and his team to a snowy city that was so worn and broken down that it really wasn't fit to be called a city anymore. It was in Russia and it had been left by the uncaring government to its fate after serving its purpose.

Robin and his team dressed warmly and got out. Robin's sensors told him the scanner was nearby and he followed it into a dilapidated building. It led him up to a closed door in the basement and he kicked it down to find . . . nothing.

The basement had obviously been hastily vacated but nothing was left besides his tracer. The Penguin must've discovered it in mid-flight.

Robin went to pick it up as Batgirl said "well now what?"

Noticing that it was only he, Batgirl, and Batman Robin decided to spill.

"Guys, I've been here before."

"How do you mean."

"Batman, remember how I told you about the Russian man who was part of the Teen Titans?"

"Yes, what of him?"

"This is the same place I met him, this city is the place where my team met him."

"So are you saying that he is around here too?"

"I don't know, things may be different here but the city was in the same condition when we arrived."

"Are you saying you want to drop the mission in favor of this?"

"We've run into a dead end Barbara. The data I had only extended as far as the USA, I was planning on tailing Penguin once we went international but since I can't do that the only thing left is to see what I can do for these people."

After some thought Batman and Batgirl nodded and then they heard Jaime's voice calling them, saying "uh guys, there's a crowd forming outside, you might want to see this."

The three heroes walked up and Robin saw the crowd that had formed. But he instantly recognized the old face of the former General who had greeted him back in his universe.

"I thought it was impossible but it is true, are you the American heroes known as Batman and Robin?"

"Yes, we are."

Robin saw hopeful looks appear on many of the faces of the people. Then he listened as the General gushed out his explanation "we are under attack, each night he comes. He was once one of us but now he is something else entirely. I beg you, I implore you to please track him down and put a stop to him. He will be our destruction."

The General looked old and tired as his head bent down "I know what many of you American think of my country and I must say that now I agree. My government, the maniacs that they are, have done horrible things, as have I. But now I beg you to help me make it up by correcting one of my sins. Please hunt him down and stop him. His name is Leonid Kovar."

Robin put a hand on his shoulder "we will, what direction does he come from?"

The General pointed the way and they all got into the Bio-Ship and flew off. While in the ship Guy Gardner started speaking "so basically we're hunting down a radioactive monster who acts like a vampire in that he only comes at night to destroy what little those people have left."

Robin nodded and Guy's face broke into a grin of anticipation "perfect, just what the doctor ordered."

Then suddenly they rocked as something hit the ship. Megan looked at the reading and said "hold onto your seatbelts, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!"

She banked steeply as another bolt of reddish energy flew up at them. Then, just as she leveled out, they were hit.

The Bio-Ship slammed into the ground and they all got out. They saw something glowing red off in the distance. Batgirl was about to charge it when Robin shouted "THAT THING IS COMPRISED COMPLETELY OF RADIATION, DO NOT GO NEAR IT!"

Lantern formed his trusty mortar cannon and began firing at the creature. Superboy picked several boulders and began chucking them at the creature while Jaime formed his lasers and began firing as well. The creature roared and a single blast of energy came before it retreated. That blast unfortunately hit the Bio-Ship and its backblast slammed Megan onto the ground. Superboy ran up to her and shouted "she's unconscious!"

Robin brought up a map he had of the area and shouted "THERE'S AN OLD ABANDONED RADIOACVTIVE POWER PLA NT NOT TOO FAR AWAY, WE COULD TAKE SHELTER THERE!"

Superboy gave Megan to Batman to carry and then hefted the Bio-Ship to carry on his back. Robin led towards the abandoned power plant. But he of course knew that the plant stood a good chance of not being abandoned at all.

* * *

The Plant was there all right. Robin led them up to the entrance and dragged the doors open. The walked in and suddenly lights flared on.

"Uh, lights don't usually flare on in an abandoned building . . . do they?"

"No . . . they don't."

They all started at the unfamiliar voice, though Robin had heard it before. They saw a man dressed in Green clothes with a fur cap on approaching them. Robin crossed his arms; he had to go through the motions here.

"Leonid Kovar?"

"Most people call me Red Star, but how did you know my name?"

"Your old friend General Raskov told me. He also told me several other things about you."

Red Star, or Leonid as he was being called looked confused. "What could the General tell you that you wouldn't have already known? But wait, I see that you have an injured comrade, I was never called a rude host so I shall give you a place to rest from the elements for awhile."

With that he strode off and prepared a bed for Megan, Robin meanwhile took a look around the place his friend and teammate had called home. He found the capsules in which Leonid stored his excess energy and found the same leaks as back in his own universe that eventually led to the monster they had encountered. He didn't hear Red Star come in behind him but did hear him when he spoke "I see that you have found my room of capsules as I call it. I am sure Raskov told you of my powers."

"Actually, I like to keep up with government dealings so whenever I can I or my mentor investigate the government programs we can."

"Ah, but still you know of my radioactive powers. Whenever I must get rid of it I come here and distill it into these capsules. Your arrival presents a rare opportunity."

Robin listened, though he had an inkling what this was already.

"I live alone, with no contact. When I am gone I do not wish for all of this to be left to the elements. I am hoping you could make some provision to have these used."

"Maybe, but first I need to show you something."

He took him to the leakage of radioactive material and Red Star grew pale. Then they heard a large crash and a roar. They rushed back inside to the main room came upon a rather unpleasant scene. The radioactive monster had broken in and was now looking around as if trying to decide what to do.

Robin again wasted no time "ATTACK!"

The monster was pelted with all manner of bombs and ranged attack, Superboy and Red Star, both being immune to radiation because of their powers, charged. Both gave the monster a large number of extremely hard hits and it turned away and began running. But Robin noticed it was running in the direction of the city. Red Star suddenly was groaning and was glowing red. He ran into a construct full of metal pipes and they all heard him scream.

When he came out he was holding two capsules full of radiation. He deposited them on the ground and asked "that thing is the result of me?"

Robin nodded and he said "and now it is going back to terrorize the people. . . I MUST STOP IT!"

Robin nodded and then Megan's voice rang through their heads, apparently the loud fight had awakened her "_the Bio-Ships auto-repair is at work, it's able to fly and could get us back to the city in time."_

They all piled in and the Bio-Ship took off.

* * *

The monster was already in the city by the time they had gotten back. Raskov was there to meet him but everyone shied away in revulsion when Red Star got out of the ship.

"WHAT IS HE DOING HERE?"

Robin stepped forward "HE IS HERE TO HELP! HE WISHES TO MAKE UP FOR HIS MISTAKES!"

Robin then led the team after the monster but, looking back, he smiled at Red Star shaking hands with the General. Then they joined battle.

The monster was headed up a hill when it was suddenly hit by a large bat. It turned and saw the team of heroes facing it. Howling a howl of rage it charged but they seem to give way before it, except one. Superboy met the charge and grimaced as the thing tried to crush him. The monster was hit from the side by several Batarangs which exploded and blue beams of energy from Blue Beetle.

As they fought Jaime kept repeating in ecstasy "I'm fighting by Batman . . . I'm fighting by Batman . . . I'm fighting by Batman!" The monster charged and they ran, but Jaime was a bit too slow as it swung and hit him squarely in the back.

He sailed away, flung to some distant part of the city as the monster felt a rock slam into its back. It turned and saw Ms. Martian fling rocks at it. It charged but suddenly Green Lantern was there and conjured up a gigantic anvil to fall on top of it. Red Star leapt in and began laying into the monster. The others marveled at his ferocity and then all but Robin grew alarmed as the monster began glowing like the sun. They all looked away and when they looked back the monster was gone. In its place stood Red Star but he was glowing completely red.

They approached him and he said in a strained voice "something inside me is changing . . . you . . . must take . . . me far . . . away."

Robin nodded and Megan called the Bio-Ship. Robin, Megan, and Red Star piled in quickly and they flew straight out into space. At his request, they let him loose a safe distance from the planet and watched him float away. He and Robin locked eyes and, after requesting it from Megan, Robin sent the telepathic message "_you're one of the bravest people I ever knew."_ Then what looked like a mini-supernova occurred as Red Star's transformation took place.

Megan began to fly back to Earth but Robin said "wait."

They watched and then they saw, flying towards them, beyond all hope, Red Star. Robin smiled as he came back into the ship. Red Star flexed his hands and then said in a voice that said he could hardly believe it "my powers . . . I can control them. Before I couldn't but now . . . I can."

He flung up his hands and gave a great whoop of joy and Robin patted him on the shoulder as they flew back to Earth.

* * *

Once back on the ground Red Star was greeted as a hero. The general thanked them all and invited them to dinner but Robin politely declined, saying that they didn't want to tax the poor people of the city. Robin heard Batman offering to Red Star to join the Justice League but Red Star refused on the grounds that he could best help by rebuilding what he had inadvertently destroyed.

Robin gathered all of them together and said "well, I guess this is the end of the mission for now."

"Ah c'mon, I never got to kick as much butt as I wanted to!"

"And I want to go with you guys on more cool missions!"

"I would certainly not say no to a trip from my motherland."

Robin smiled and brought out some very special items he'd made for just such and occasion. He handed each of the three people they'd met on the trip a communicator with a YJ on one side.

"When there's trouble, you know who to call."

* * *

Batman insisted that they come back to Gotham before going back to Mt. Justice. To Robin' astonishment he landed the ship right in front of Wayne manor and invited them inside. Megan was extremely happy to try out all of the food selections to be tried, provided by Alfred. Even Superboy seemed to enjoy himself as they all sat down to a movie night.

Midway through the movie Robin got up and wandered out to a balcony with a good view of Gotham. Barbara found him and walked out beside him.

"It can be a beautiful view can't it. So deceiving . . . not revealing that Gotham is battleground."

Robin nodded, ever since the start of Batman's career Gotham had been the staging grounds for a war, a war on crime. Batman would not relent until he had cleansed crime from the streets and brought criminals to justice. Robin knew better than anyone else the drive that Batman had and the fact that they both would spend the rest of their lives fighting crime.

"But it also has good people . . . Batman . . . my dad . . . you . . . and me . . . you and me.

Barbara moved closer to him and before Robin could say anything she'd given him a peck on the cheek. She was about to leave when she felt Robin grab her shoulder.

"Babs, I'm sorry but I can't do this."

"What do you mean?" Barbara said in a confused voice.

"I can't be your boyfriend. I already have a girlfriend back home."

Barbara's face fell, and then she looked up and said "it's just that you're so different from him, my Robin I mean and well I . . . liked it. You're different from anyone I've ever met and I really like you. But I understand that you can't even consider it until you're certain you can't get home."

Robin turned to face her and said "I do think you're beautiful and I thought your counterpart was too, your mirror images. I had a crush on her but was too nervous to act on it. When I left Gotham I thought I'd never get over her but then I met another girl."

"Who was it, Raven?"

"Nah, it was Starfire. We're together finally after two years. Besides, I think Raven likes someone else on the team."

After a long silence Batgirl said "Starfire is lucky to have a guy like you."

Robin chuckled "no, I'm just lucky to have a girl like her. Now I think we should get back to the move before they think I've flown the coop again."

They both returned to the movie and the whole team slept that night in Wayne Manor.

* * *

_I really sincerely hope you liked this; I'm a bit nervous about the last part with Red Star. I hope this is up to snuff._

_I'm sorry for the long update gap. "Schooled" will be coming next._

_I wonder if you got confused with all of the technobabble in the beginning, sorry if I did a poor job explaining about the codes._

* * *

_Now for the Mailbag:_

Evil Soul

Hey, sorry I haven't reviewed sooner but this is the first chance I've had in a while. Not much to say this time round. I personally enjoyed the chapter and eagerly await the next. If you have the other filler already written, it doesn't really matter if it comes before or after the next episodesince it will have to be done anyway before the episode that introduces Artemis.

When you do bring her in, you may want to consider having Batman talk to Robin about her, given he's not only the leader but he's not YJ-Robin and Batman both respects - mentioned in an earlier chapter - him and has been trying to avoid conflicting with him.

Only one issue as far as I can see. Robin mentioned - well, he thought it, you mentioned it really - in an earlier chapter (three, I think) that he didn't think Slade could have been married or had children. In this chapter you show that Robin knows that Slade is also known as Deathstroke and that Jerichco is his son - which is correct by the mainstream comics canon, Slade was married and has three children (that I know of). Since Robin knows that Slade and Deathstroke are the same person, he would know that information. Just wanted to point out that now there is a descrepency (may have spelled that wrong). If you can you should correct the earlier chapter so it makes more sence.

Again, great chapter and please update soon.

_Sorry for the error. Thanks for the long review, I enjoy them. I hope you enjoy this chapter._

Fan-Tasticly-Lame

Thanks for this story! I love the part with Sl- I mean Deathstroke. I hope Robin gets busted soon. That'd be kinda interesting, haha! I hope you update soon! :D

_When Robin finally get's busted that will be a sight to see._

WiseGirl-AC

I love the fact that more of the team is starting to realize the truth slowly because of Slade's interactions! Bringing him into the story in this universe was genius!

_Thanks a lot. I hope you enjoyed this filler._

darkmist111

awsome

_Thank you._

Riqis Inna Sunja

That was great! I'm very happy to see this filler! it was even better than i thought itt would be! i think you should do the 'Schooled' episode next, to see what robin would say when he sees amazo and superboy in 'his' school. great job and please update soon!

_I hope you enjoyed this filler. Sorry but "Schooled" shall have to wait until next chapter._

SuperninjaX

It's lexcorp, just so you know. DUDE! ROBIN IS A BEAST! YOU DID AWESOME! THAT WAS LIKE THE MOST EPIC BATTLE OF ALL EPIC BATTLES!

_Thanks I'm glad you enjoyed it._

potterinu

Slade Awesome! Happy graduation day.

_Thanks, it was._

KaliAnn

Robin certainly has a lot to think about such as fitting in with the facts of the Robin he replaced and the information Skip provided him. I'm glad that Batman respect his choices of Honorary Titans. This filler was interesting, but Robin let his anger and hatred blind him, but he's should have a better control after everything he's been through with Slade. I loved the jetpack/glider cape. I'm glad his friends were happy he was okay, but both Aqualad and Kid Flash are now poking their heads where they don't belong. The Light is very interested in Robin and I wonder what your going to do with that. Another filler would be nice and so would School. Just chose what you like the best.

_I hope you liked this one. Robin certainly has a lot on his plate but some might say that he is constantly shoveling more and more on himself._

Darth Sanctus

Where you watching Get Smart when you wrote this chapter, because the whole action scene is basically the ending of Get Smart?

_It was based on the movie. Sorry if that detracted from the quality of the chapter. _

* * *

_One last thing. The newest episode of Young Justice has been leaked online. I watched it on Youtube. Just a little heads up. I will probably use the episode along with the other ones. It is only online and hasn't been released on television yet._

_Good Day and God Bless :)_

_Sincerely, LordGodsServant_


	11. Schooled

_Sorry for the long wait on this._

* * *

There was a rare sight to be seen in the office of the Wayne company building in Metropolis. Instead of Mr. Bruce Wayne sitting by himself in his office he was working on documents but was accompanied by a young man with black hair and blue eyes. The young man was scanning the cityscape, observing Metropolis like he'd never been there before.

"It's virtually the same" he commented.

"Same as were you came from?"

"Yep, from here I can't discern any noticeable differences, there's the Daily Planet, the Lexcorp building, and even that suspension bridge."

They continued on with their respective activities until the young man said sharply "Bruce, come here quick!"

Bruce got up and they both looked out at the bridge which had suddenly shaken. Bruce got up and retrieved two pairs of binoculars. They looked down and saw many cars begin careening out of control including a school bus. Bruce pushed a secret button and a drawer opened to reveal the Batman costume.

Robin was about to get his own costume ready when they saw, flying towards the bridge, a figure of blue and red. They relaxed and watched as Superman began fixing the bridge. But then they saw another figure, one which they recognized, leaping onto the bridge.

"I thought we sent Superboy back to the cave?"

"He must've come to see Metropolis; after all, Superman protects the city."

They both watched as Superboy landed, Robin noted that the bridge shook as he did, and began pulling cars back to safety. The School Bus, which was resting precariously on the side of the bridge, tipped even further. Superboy ran up to it and began pulling it. He was just starting to succeed when Superman took over.

Seeing they were going to talk Robin said regretfully "I wish I could hear what they're saying."

Batman produced what appeared like a small radio and clicked it on, Superman and Superboy's voices came out of it. Robin glanced at Batman and he shrugged "I pay for most of the League's equipment, and I like to have safeguards."

Robin nodded and listened to the two Super-beings.

"I had that!"

"I didn't want to take the chance. As it is your landing could've destabilized the entire bridge."

"It didn't!"

"But it could've, we don't yet know the limits of your powers."

"Well maybe you could, you know, help me out with that."

" . . . Batman's got that covered."

"Yeah I know but I-!"

"Hold up."

Robin now heard Superman talking to Green Arrow about some sort of being that was attacking him. After hearing him out Superman left Superboy without even a goodbye and flew off.

Batman picked up a phone and called Superman "I know about the alert Clark, but we need to talk."

He looked back at Robin who was watching Superboy make his way off into the city. He distinctly noticed the look of intense dislike on his face.

"I'm gonna have a talk with him."

"Who? Superboy or Superman?"

"Possibly both."

"That wouldn't be wise; he doesn't know who you are."

Robin turned to face Bruce and he got the distinct impression that Robin was a lot angrier than he was letting on.

"Bruce, I understand Superboy's position more than you. Your mom and dad loved you (Bruce flinched at the mention of his parents but as it was Dick he let it pass), heck mine loved me too, but your alternate was a second father to me and he made me feel like I was worth nothing. I imagine that's how Superboy's feeling right now. And as I am his leader he is **my** responsibility and **I** am going to look after his welfare."

Bruce almost smiled "getting a little protective are we Dick."

Robin seemed to realize how protective his statement had been, then he recovered and said "I made enough mistakes with my own team back home, I want this team to last a long while and I want them to be well prepared for the job they have. They're the future of this world Bruce, some of the League may ignore it but they're the future protectors, eventually some or all of the League is going to die and they'll have to step up and take they're turn at bat. Just as Batman is the symbol to strike fear into the criminals of the night, Superman is a symbol to give hope to all the people for the dawn. Like it or not Superboy is gonna eventually have to wear that symbol and become the new Superman. Clark may not want him to be his son but that doesn't matter, what matters is that Superboy considers Clark to be his father, and you know what happens when your father treats you like your worthless."

Robin looked pointedly at the Batman costume and Bruce understood, however, that didn't change the fact that Superman might not take to kindly to Robin reading him the riot acts.

"But Robin, I give your team the missions, your under my command so he's my responsibility too."

Robin gaped, having forgotten that and Bruce continued "let me try and talk to him, he's more likely to listen to me than to you."

Robin considered this, and finally he said "I'll let you try, at least at first."

"That's all I ask."

They looked at each other, and then smiled. Then Robin headed back through a teleporter to Mt. Justice.

* * *

Kid Flash and Aqualad were playing some Air-Hockey when Superboy came through the teleporter. Robin tried to gauge his emotional state, he was still angry. They heard someone else come in and turned to see Martian Manhunter and Black Canary walking towards them. With a cry of delight Megan ran forward to give her uncle a hug. Robin looked at Superboy, he expected Superboy wouldn't be happy with an example of the good family skills that were lacking where in his department. Superboy turned to leave.

"Stick around, class is in session" said Canary. Robin wondered how this would turn out, he was already quite skilled. As Canary walked out onto the hologram circle in the middle of the room it glowed white.

"I consider an honor to be able to train you; I'll throw a lot at you. Everything I learned from my own mentors and bruises."

Robin noticed she had flinched and saw a bandage on her left arm.

"What happened?" asked Ms. Martian.

"The job. Now, combat is about controlling the conflict, putting the battle on your terms. You should always be acting, never reacting. I'm gonna need a sparing partner."

Robin quickly stepped forward, he was curious. Kid Flash started to protest that he had wanted to but Robin held up his hand. It was a proof of the command he possessed that Kid Flash stopped talking immediately. Robin explained "I've had a lot of experience, also, I'm the leader so I want to test my skills, make sure I'm worthy of the position."

Aqualad and Megan made faces at his statement and Aqualad said "Robin, I have no doubt of your skills, I also do not think that that is what qualifies you as our leader."

"I agree, you're probably the smartest one on the team."

"Thanks guys, but the fact remains that I think I've been slipping lately. I want to see if all my exercise has paid off."

Robin and Canary got into ready positions; Robin had an ulterior motive for his being the first. He'd likely be able to at least prolong the fight; he didn't think it was wise for Superboy to fight today. Robin hoped he could avoid putting Superboy in the line of fire so soon after being brushed off by his father figure.

Canary threw the first punch and Robin blocked. She quickly swiped at his legs but Robin jumped. He then acted instead of reacting and let his feet land on Canary's shoulders. He pushed off hard and did a perfect back flip, remembering all the trapeze training his parents had given him. Then he attacked with a series of jabs and kicks, all defended by Canary. He started off slowly and upped his efforts with each passing minute.

The others stood amazed as both teacher and supposed student had a duel the likes of which they had never seen and they had seen quite a bit. Robin and Canary finally found themselves in a position in which Robin had Canary in the classic wrestler move with her arm behind her back but Canary had her foot behind his.

Robin gasped out "draw?" and Canary nodded. They both released each other and got towels to wipe the sweat off their bodies.

"Now, can anyone tell me why he was so successful?"

No answer so she continued "he didn't allow me to dictate the terms of the battle. He continually put the battle onto his own terms, he acted."

The holographic screen showed up and Batman's face was seen on it.

"Batman to the cave. 5 hours ago a new menace attacked Green Arrow and Black Canary. The attacker was capable of studying, then duplicating the powers of its opponents. Arrow called in reinforcements which nearly proved disastrous as the android gained more and more abilities with each new combatant. In the end it took 8 Leaguer's nearly four hours to defeat and dismantle the android."

"Who built the android? T.O. Morrow?"

"Good guess, but we don't think so."

Martian Manhunter spoke next "the technology carries the signature of Professor Ivo."

"Ivo! But Ivo's dead!"

"So we all thought, or hoped."

"To make sure this threat is permanently neutralized we're sending the parts in two trucks to two separate STAR Labs in New York and Boston for immediate evaluation. Every precaution is being taken. We will have four decoy trucks in case Ivo, or anyone else tries to recover the remains. You will escort the two real trucks in two teams undercover."

"Yes, road trip."

Superboy said in an annoyed tone "so now we take out your trash?"

"You had something better to do."

Robin looked at his personal wrist computer and saw that the coordinates had been received. He told the team to get ready to leave and to be back in the common room in five minutes. Then he realized something, Skip was missing.

"Uh, Megan, where's Skip?"

"Oh, he's in the kitchen."

"Is he still eating!"

"Last I saw he was."

Robin, Megan, and Aqualad hurried to the kitchen and when the got in they saw a weird site.

Skip was lying on the table tearing into a chicken leg as dogs under his mental guidance went and got more food out of the fridge. He turned to the others and waved, they noticed that his belly was far bigger than it should've been.

"Skip, you've got to stop eating or you're gonna kill yourself!"

"_I can't stop. It's like my metabolism suddenly got turned on to be faster than Kid Flash's. I don't think I'm gonna die, I just can't stop eating."_

"But we have to go on a mission!" Megan said.

Skip tried to sit up but he flailed in the air and then gave it up. He sighed mentally and then said "_I guess you guys are gonna have to do this one without me. I'll try to hold off on some of the food. Just kick some bad guy butt for me, okay?"_

"_We will"_ said Megan.

They walked out and Robin knew he wasn't the only one who was worried about Skip.

* * *

Robin split his team up into two groups. Megan, Aqualad, and Kid Flash would take the truck going to Boston and he and Superboy would take the truck leading to New York. Robin did this partially because he wanted to keep an eye on Superboy himself, he'd succeeded in keeping him out of the firing range by Black Canary, but he could tell that Superboy was still angry.

They started out and were on their way; Robin sincerely hoped that Bruce would be able to talk some sense into Superman. If not, then he'd have to tell Superman his way.

For several hours they trailed the truck and finally Robin pulled alongside Superboy and said through their communicator "you alright."

Superboy looked at him with bright blue eyes and then said "Superman, he-"

"I saw" Robin said.

Superboy looked surprised "how could you have."

"Batman took me to the WayneTech building in Metropolis, and I heard and saw everything that went on."

Superboy looked down at his fuel gauge and Robin said "for what it's worth, I know what you're going through."

"How could you possible know what I'm going through" Superboy said venomously.

"Because my dad made me feel like I was worthless too."

Superboy glance up and said "Batman made you-?"

"No, not him, but you didn't think that he was my first parent did you?"

Superboy digested this as Robin continued "he kept ignoring my abilities and tried to tie me down. And I felt a biting hatred begin to grow. I know how it feels. You wish they would acknowledge you, until you stop and start to resent them until you wish that you had never had any relation to them and that you wouldn't have to live in their shadow."

Superboy glanced up in astonishment as he digested this. It was along the lines of how he felt.

"I finally disowned him and left. But Superboy, you have to keep trying. Superman doesn't know what to think of you but rest assured, even if he wouldn't acknowledge you, I would. I trust you and think that you are one of the best people I've ever known."

Superboy thought a moment, and then gave a small smile. He pulled ahead for some thinking time.

Suddenly something flew over their heads and landed on the truck. Little robots shaped like chimpanzees. Robin heard Superboy say something that made him grin "I hate monkeys."

Robin hit a button and his motorcycle sprouted multiple energy cannons and began firing. Superboy switched his bike to battle mode too as both he and Robin leapt off of them. Superboy grabbed Robin and they both landed on the top of the truck. Superboy began smashing the Robots and Robin drew his Bo-Staff as Aqualad radioed in to tell him that they were under attack as well.

Both he and Superboy lashed out at the robots. Superboy grew annoyed at the high-pitched laughter coming from them. He fought all the harder. Robin was curious, the robots were extremely well made to he too car to try and disable them without too much damage. More and more Robots joined the fight and they couldn't help some from breaking through the roof of the truck.

Robin growled and fought his way to the holed the robots had drilled. He leapt in and began striking out at the Monkey's. Then one leapt at him and latched onto the back of his head. He grabbed it and tried to tug it off but even more grabbed him and began lifting him off the ground. Superboy saw Robin lifted out of the truck and high into the air. Then the robots let go and Robin fell. With a roar Superboy leapt and caught Robin.

He landed and then self-consciously put Robin down. Robin grinned at him and Superboy, after a moment, grinned back. Then they heard an explosion and looked to see that the robots had grabbed the parts and were flying off with them.

"Superboy, pursue them, I have some business I need to take care of here!"

Superboy nodded and leapt after the monkeys. Robin quickly called his motorbike to him and began picking up as many of the disabled Monkey robots as he could find. After he was done he put them in a bag and strapped it onto his motorcycle. He then told the bike to head back to headquarters and it did so. Robin then had his cape transform into its jetpack mode and he flew after Superboy.

Funny how Superboy had forgotten about his cape's jetpack mode, still Robin found his actions slightly endearing. He hurried to catch up as he heard that the other half of the cargo had been stolen as well.

* * *

Skip felt bad. No, strike that, he felt **terrible**. He hadn't been able to stop eating. If anything his eating amount had increased. He was lying on the table, eating a large loaf of bread and sweating. Really the stuff leaking out of his skin wasn't like sweat it was more like slime. His head was hurting too which was odd. Then suddenly he was plunged into a memory.

_He was a baby in human terms. Sitting along with the others, practicing their mental powers. Then he was with his brothers and sisters, playing and romping through Cadmus, marveling at the wondrous works being accomplished there. The world would truly be changed when they were allowed to coexist with the humans. Then they all grew quiet for Dubbilex had walked up to them. They all gazed up at him, the greatest of them all with rapt attention and he smiled down at them. _

_Later that night as Skip went to sleep he heard a noise and turned to see Dubbilex at his bedside. Dubbilex was smiling as he picked up Skip and held him in his hands._

"_You are so special my little Genome. You have such and important destiny ahead of you. Remember to do what's right even if nobody else is. Remember that I love you, not matter what."_

_Dubbilex then began singing a soft lullaby to him as he began rocking him back and forth. His mind gently enveloped Skip's. Never had Skip felt such security, he was floating in a sea of love. He fell asleep and Dubbilex with a smile, laid him back in bed._

Skip's eyes snapped open and he gasped out loud. Then with abrupt finality, the change began.

* * *

Robin had caught up to Superboy and he realized that they were headed towards Gotham City. He quickly made a special call.

"Batgirl."

"_Robin, what? What's going on!"_

"My team and I are tracking robot parts stolen from us. The robot contains the powers of nearly the entire Justice League. We are currently en route to Gotham City so I need you to be on alert and possibly catch the parts in a surprise attack. Could you do that for me please?"

"_No problem, I'll be ready."_

Robin and Superboy followed the parts and it led them to a train. Superboy landed on the train top and ripped apart the ceiling. They both dropped in and took in the sight before them. A middle-aged man with brown hair was standing at the end of the train car with a lot of the monkey Robots around him.

"Oh, hello."

"You're Ivo, I'm not impressed."

"You're one to talk. Now since when does the Big Blue Boy Scout have a brat?"

"He doesn't!" Superboy said furiously. Robin laid a hand on his shoulder and he looked at Robin, then appeared to force himself to calm down.

It was just in time as they saw the Monkey robots coming in to attack. Robin's staff was out in an instant and that, combined with Superboy's fists made sure that none of the robots laid a hand on either of them.

They then heard something much larger moving in the darkness of the car and heard a mechanical voice say "_access Captain Atom_" and two beams of atomic energy lanced out of the darkness to hit them both square in the chests.

They both fell back and saw with fear the android coming into the light as Ivo said in a confident voice "since Professor Ivo's Magnificent Monkey's don't float your boat, perhaps his Amazing Amazo would better suit you, or better slay you."

"_Access Black Canary."_

A super sonic scream was sent their way and both boys clutched their ears. They then got up as the Robot said "_access Superman."_ Superboy looked at Robin and he nodded. They both charged and Robin threw a Birdarang. Amazo simply shot it with some heat vision before smashing first Superboy and then he back with a punch that felt like it could've cracked his ribs.

He was lucky that Superboy had been hit first because he broke the steel back of the car and cushioned Robin's landing. Robin rolled off of him just in time for Amazo to grab Superboy. He threw Superboy off into the distance and he landed in a school building. Robin with a start recognized it as the school he'd been told the original Robin of this universe attended. Then Amazo grabbed him and he was flying through the air at high speeds straight at the school wall.

He engaged his jetpack and just managed to slow himself enough to avoid breaking his back. He deactivated it as he helped Superboy up. But then Amazo landed in the room and grabbed Superboy. Robin leapt at Amazo but with a flick of its wrist he was flung back. Amazo then threw Superboy hard through the wall and followed. Robin rushed after them and found himself in the gym of the school. Superboy threw a punch and managed to knock the android back into the wall.

Robin flung a bomb at it but the android simply phased through it. His mind was racing, trying to figure out this Android's weakness. It didn't appear to have any but that didn't mean he couldn't look for some.

The Robot charged suddenly with the speed of the Flash straight for Robin but before it reached him Robin felt something else grab him out of the way a super-speed. Kid Flash set him down and grinned. They all noticed at that moment, Ivo was sitting in the bleachers watching them.

The android was suddenly on them and it grabbed Kid Flash and began squeezing. Kid Flash cried out in pain but the robot was forced to engage in the Manhunter's power of intangibility as an _arrow _flew straight through his head. Robin scooped up the arrow for later analysis and suddenly had an idea.

"GUYS, REMEMBER WHAT CANARY SAID, PUT THE BATTLE ON OUR TERMS!"

He gestured towards Ivo and the others understood. They all three charged and Ivo's eyes grew wide with shock. He then began to run. He called his Monkey robots but Robin threw several bombs that destroyed them. They were all scattered by mini tornado sent from Amazo.

"KID, DISTRACT IT!" Robin ordered and Kid Flash gave him the thumbs up and began harassing the android in any way he could.

Robin called Batgirl and gave her some instructions and then whispered his plan to Superboy. He nodded and they both charged. Robin threw a bomb at Amazo and it once more made use of the intangibility power. But that was just what Robin had wanted. Before it became solid again Superboy had shoved his fist right into its head.

As it became solid, little sparks of electricity showed on it, and then the head exploded. The android fell back and Robin said "DISASEMBLE HIM, NOW!"

All three of them rushed in and pulled the android apart by the arms and legs. They heard footsteps and saw Megan and Aqualad rushing in. Megan immediately went to Superboy's side who smiled. Aqualad said that they'd done a great job. Then Kid Flash said in a shocked voice "hey where's Ivo!"

All the others looked around but Robin just grinned as the Gym doors opened and in walked Batgirl dragging none other than Ivo by the scruff of his neck.

* * *

Back at Mt. Justice Robin gave his report.

"The Amazo Android is in pieces again and is safely being analyzed at the two separate STAR Labs. We also managed to catch Ivo who was quite possible a bigger threat."

Robin grinned; he'd also gotten a little something else. Before the STAR Labs officials had taken the remains of the Android he'd taken as many detailed scans of the thing he could, and that was admittedly a lot.

"Your ability to handle complications has impressed the League."

"The whole League?"

"Given time yes, Kryptonians as you know have very hard heads."

Superboy smiled and Robin was relieved that he hadn't taken Superman's status in anger; it was a good sign for the future.

"Of course there's no shame in asking for help that's why the League exists, because there are some problems that even we can't handle individually."

Robin walked forward and held up the arrow he'd gained from the battlefield. Green Arrow drew one of his own and they compared, they weren't the same.

"Speedy, he's got our backs!" Kid Flash exclaimed with delight.

"Perhaps" Robin said.

Robin dismissed the team to go home and rest. As the Leaguers left he grabbed the shoulder of Batman and asked "well, what did Superman say."

Batman sighed; he wondered what would happen next "he refused to listen. He refused to acknowledge himself as the boy's father."

Robin's eyes widened and his facial expression became extremely angry. He said in a voice barely masking his rage "fine, if he wants it that way, it'll be that way." Then he walked away and to his room.

* * *

Superman was in his room in the watchtower and was just about to go to bed when his computer beeped and said "_you have a message_."

He pressed the button, not wanting to have to deal with it in the morning and was surprised to see Robin on the viewscreen. Even more surprising was that Clark could tell that Robin was visibly angry.

"Hello Clark, I trust you had a nice little chat with Bruce today. Let me start off by saying one thing, it doesn't matter if you don't want him anymore, what matters is that he considers you to be his father. If you keep ignoring him, he's gonna end up hating you one of these days. You need to get your act together Clark, you're supposed to be the social person, not Batman. You may wonder why I'm doing this and here's the reason. He's under my charge, on my team, so his wellbeing is my responsibility. If I hadn't managed to keep him calm today he might've gotten himself killed. If you don't step up to the plate, I'll find someone who will and you'll just become one of the big letdowns in his life. Think about it Clark, I hope you'll make the right descision."

Superman went to sleep with that in his head. And it gave him very upleasant dreams.

* * *

Robin had sent the message and was about to sit down to do some more work on his computer when Superboy came in.

"There's something you need to see in the Kitchen."

Robin got up and followed him. Along the way he noticed that the dogs that were usually under Skip's command were now wandering around aimlessly. He quickened his pace.

In the Kitchen Megan was gawking at the scene. Food was everywhere; nothing was left in the fridge, freezer, or cupboards. The table was covered in what looked like slime but the main thing that completed the bizarre scene was a cocoon that hung from the ceiling just above the table.

Only two words came to Robin's mind "Oh snap."

* * *

_When I finally got down to this I had a lot of fun writing it. I hope I didn't make the characters OOC. I hope you enjoyed the changes I made. I will most likely simply move onto the next episode as I have no definite plans for a filler. _

_If I come up with something I might do a filler though._

_Hope you enjoyed it._

_And now for the Mailbag, I shall be using Bold and Italics for my answers:_

* * *

Evil Soul

Nice chapter. I found the fights more - I don't know exactly - generalized, maybe? They didn't seem up to quite the same standard as those in previous chapters, I'm afraid. I also think you introduced too many new characters at once.

I liked that you had Batman and Robin showing their respet towards each other with Batman letting Robin take the lead on the mission. Having everyone question why Robin is in charge may have driven home what Robin said to Batman in an earlier chapter about being in his shadow and how his reputation was entirely dependent upon Batman's.

I thought the nod towards Barbra Gordon's comis canon relationship with Dick Grayson was nicely done. It didn't take away from the chapter's main storyline and was dealt with by the end of the chapter, while still leaving the possibility of having it come up at a later time.

I was less satisfied with the Superboy/Miss Martian development. While her asking to sleep with him for body heat and him allowing her to seemed entirely and realistically innocent, considering the facts that they are A) teenagers, B) living together with limited supervision from a robot, and C) doing this while Batman - who likely doesn't approve, won't consider it innocent and will inform Superman and Martian Manhunter what their respective charges are up to ASAP - is around, might not be the smartest idea they've had.

I have to ask why exactly is Robin going after Black Mask's and the Penguin's operations? You had doing the same in an earlier chapter as well.

Hope I'll be reading another fantastic chapter soon.

_**That last chapter wasn't some of my best work, perhaps the weakest chapter so far. I apologize. I'm glad you enjoyed the other elements though.**_

_**Superman and Manhunter being informed of the Superboy and Megan moment. Due to his actions in episode 10 I'm not sure Manhunter would mind, he didn't seem to in the episode. And I'm not sure Batman would actually be inclined to tell Superman after the way he's been treating Superboy so, yeah. I'll probably touch on Manhunter's feelings next chapter at least.**_

_**As for why Robin is going after Penguin and Black Mask. One simple reason is that they are villains and it's his duty to bring them down. Another is that the deal that Robin was trying to bust them for was way outside their normal dealings, as in another new player is getting them involved.**_

_**Perhaps the Light. :)**_

RedHound

I really like this fic so far! and I only read the first chapter!

More serious robin! yay! I didnt like the go-lucky Robin in young Justice.

Nice chapter, Im reviewing every chapter to help get number of readers up

Got to love the new robin!

Man this is fantastic! Way better than any other young justice or teen titan fic I have ever read!

Man I totally know why you arent going to write I side story about Young Justice's Robin! I hate being a party pooper though so I will keep my mouth shut.

Will you have other uses for Venom in your story?

I wonder if Deathstroke will use something akin to nanobots to threaten Robin into joining him?

I will recomend this fic to all of my friends due to amazing story line, fantastic character development, and for being so kickass. :)

_**Thank a lot for all your support. Your reviews made my day when I saw them.**_

_**To answer some of your questions:**_

_**About the Venom, perhaps, the Light may have some use for it later.**_

_**Slade and the Nanobots. You've got me thinking, perhaps. Thanks.**_

_**Thanks for the reviews. I hope you like this chapter.**_

song six

Normally I write long reviews analyzing the story as a whole if I haven't been catching up with chapters. Instead, of waiting until the end I'm going to leave notes along the way as I read this. So, bear with me.

The beginning of your fic was alright, it was very short but the first paragraph did get me interested.

In your author's note it takes away the mystery that keeps readers more intrigued when you suggest outside of the story where Robin is. A good writer can have the confidence the reader can identify this fact on their own without hints or clues in the author's note.

The response from Batman in the first chapter and the second chapter was...well...out of character. I believe you should re-watch some episodes and really get to know batman more as well as read more of the comics to grasp a better idea.

I enjoy how Batman figures out it's not his Robin from him not knowing what "Affirmation codes" are and whatnot but the YJ Robin is most definitely pretty direspectful. Kaldur had stated this on his own multiple times, he's an immature 13-year-old boy.

I thought the conversation between batman and Robin could have gone better. the idea is there, but it seems to quick and non-chalent. I would think Batman would be mroe concerned his little boy is considering he's a pretty good father in this series, and TT Robin would be a little more guarded about giving out information.

- songsix

_**Perhaps my writing in the beginning of the fic wasn't the best. I'm sorry if it wasn't good. I hope you enjoy the rest of the fic though.**_

Mika-Mustang

WoooooooOOOOoooo I like.

_**Thanks. I liked it too, but since I wrote it, that's probably a given.**_

Riqis Inna Sunja

That was great! good job on bringing superboy and megan in on the identities! great chapter and please update soon!

_**Thanks, perhaps I shall needle Kid Flash later that Robin trusted those two with his identity but not him. 'evil grin'**_

_**Sorry about the long update gap.**_

SuperninjaX

I'm a little confused, you have like twenty things going on right now. You got skips eatIng problem, blue beetle and the others tagging along, tracking penguin, Barbra making a move on robin. It's just waaaaay too much! But good job!

_**Yeah, I probably tried to get too much done in that one chapter. I hope this one was more suited to you. I at least explained Skip's eating problems partially.**_

KaliAnn

Nice filler and I think it really helped cement the growing bond between the cave dwellers and give them some much needed action experience. Though I wonder where a small genognome like Skip packs all that food. It was interesting to see where the trail led and I saw how impressed everyone was by Robin leading. Good use having Guy, Blue Beetle, and Red Star in it and I think making them honorary members does them a bit of good. Good chapter.

_**The three cave dwellers certainly are good friends now. Skip packed all the food on the dogs that he was controlling. Much like saddlebags on a horse. **_

_**Glad you liked it. I hope you like this one too.**_

* * *

_Good Day and God Bless_

_Sincerely, LordGodsServant :)_


	12. Infiltrator

_Once again, sorry about the wait. I'm horrible about that._

* * *

_Work had finally finished on Titans Tower. Robin had used his savings he'd gained over the years of working with Waynetech. He had started his own business in Jump City with that very same money. Many people didn't think about it but Superheroes needed cash too.  
He was on the rooftop adjusting their radio dish for the umpteenth time when he heard the engines of an aircraft he'd hoped he wouldn't see in a long time. Turning around he saw the Bat-plane landing on the tower pad. The top opened and out stepped Batman. Robin glared at him for a few moments then reined himself in. _

_Batman strode towards him and said in a terse voice "Robin."_

"_Batman."_

"_I see you've completed your headquarters."_

"_**We**__ have."_

"_It's easily accessible by villains."_

_Robin stared at him, rage starting to build inside him, he'd traveled all the way from Gotham to tell him of all the mistakes he'd made. _

"_This isn't Gotham Batman."_

"_A villain could simply walk onto the island and start blasting the tower."_

_Robin's fists clenched as he said "If all you came for is to lecture me on all of my faults leave now. I've got a radio dish to fine-tune."_

_He turned back and began working on the Dish again. But he didn't hear the Bat-Plane take off. He gritted his teeth as he heard Batman walk closer to him and then froze as he felt a hand on his shoulder._

"_You could still come back to Gotham you know."_

_Robin didn't reply but Batman knew he was listening._

"_I wouldn't keep you away, I didn't want you to leave Robin. I want you back home, I could always use an extra hand around Gotham. You can taste Alfred's cooking again, use the Bat-Computer, and I'll take you out on more missions."_

_Robin's brow furrowed, he'd missed Alfred's cooking. Fact was he missed Gotham as a whole in a way. He missed Bruce, he missed Alfred, he missed Barbara . . ._

"_No."_

"_What?" said Batman as if he didn't understand._

"_I'm not going back to Gotham Batman. I left to make a name for myself and I chose Jump City. I have a team that looks up to me as their leader and I can't abandon them."_

_He turned around and saw that Batman was frowning down on him._

"_This is what I would've expected from a little boy with no idea of what's good for him."_

_Robin's rage, so recently banished, surged back to the surface. Still he made an effort to keep it in check._

"_Explain to me why I don't know what's good for me?"_

"_This team of yours is inexperienced, uncoordinated, and fraught with conflicting personalities. You won't last a year like this."_

_Robin glared at him and, forgetting all restraint, shouted "THIS IS ABOUT CONTROL ISN'T IT BATMAN! YOU JUST CAN'T GET OVER THE FACT THAT YOU'RE NOT MY COMMANDER ANYMORE. I DON'T HAVE TO LISTEN TO YOUR COMMENTS ON MY TEAM SO GET OFF MY PROPERTY!"_

_Both stood, father and son, glaring at each other. Then Batman turned and got into the Bat-Plane. He flew off and Robin didn't hear from him for a long time._

_Robin stood heaving on the rooftop, then he walked to the kitchen. As he descended the stairs he knew with a certainty that every Titan in the tower had been listening to him and Batman argue._

Robin sat up, gasping as he woke from the dream that had been more like a memory. He sat in his bed, breathing heavily. While he'd been with the Titans Batman rarely ever contacted him. While he regretted the distance they'd put between each other he knew it'd been necessary. After a bit, he went back to bed and fell asleep within minutes.

* * *

Robin was working on the robots. So far he had the wreckage of Mr. Twister, the MONQI's from Ivo, and the detailed scans of the Amazo Android. He was working on studying, and if possible, replicating the process.

Then he heard the computer say _"you have a call, will you accept?"_

"Identify the caller."

"_Caller identified as Batman."_

"I accept."

Batman's face showed on the screen "Robin, I trust you had a good night's sleep."

"Not really."

"What happened."

"Nightmare" Robin said, and he left it at that. Batman decided to leave his inquiry as to the nature of the nightmare until later.

"Did you hear about what happened with Skip?" Robin asked.

"No, what happened?"

Robin explained and Batman nodded as he continued "I see, that subject is part of what I'm calling about. I have a new addition to the team."

Robin's face didn't change as he asked "and who is this addition?"

"She is an archer, and is the new sidekick of Green Arrow."

Robin's eye's narrowed, "Bruce, you and I both know that you're not telling me something."

Batman looked surprised but recovered and said "and why would you think that?"

"First off, you aren't stupid enough to put the new sidekick on the team Speedy's sure to be watching without some sort of ulterior motive that makes it worth the risk. Secondly, Green Arrow has been looking for Speedy for awhile; I find it highly unlikely that he'd take another apprentice because it would anger Speedy to no end. Thirdly, even if I had been wrong about the last two, your reaction proved me right."

Batman looked impressed. "Alright, here's the real reason."

Robin nodded as he listened to the reason, it was sound and he understood it. After a bit of thinking it over he came to a decision.

"Alright, I'll go along with this, but I have one condition. I get to bring in someone else to join the team."

Batman regarded him coolly, this should be interesting "who did you have in mind."

"Someone we both know, I've discussed joining the team with her and she was very enthusiastic about it."

"Alright, Artemis will join and this other person can join as well."

Robin nodded and told him who the name of who he wanted to join. Batman smiled, a rare thing, and agreed.

"One more thing Batman, I'm gonna need to borrow some cash from Waynetech to fund some projects, it shouldn't be too costly."

Batman nodded "you can explain later when we meet today." Then they both hung up. Robin sat back, wondering how this change was going to affect the team.

Then his thoughts wandered to the new living chandelier they had over the table in the kitchen. Megan had tried to telepathically contact him but had come up with nothing useful. It was as if Skip's mind was reset and he was reliving all his memories over again. They had no idea what to do so they had left the thing alone. Megan was worried though and Robin made a mental note to try and contact Dubbilex later if he could.

Robin heard some knocking on his door and he got up to answer it. Behind it was Megan and she was dressing in a swimsuit.

"Hey, Aqualad's here and we're all going outside to play, you want to come?"

"Well . . ." Robin said as he looked back at his work desk, then back at Megan who said "please?"

Robin remembered how Starfire had asked him the same thing, and he'd refused.

He smiled and said "sure."

A few minutes later they were all out on the beach and began playing. Kid Flash couldn't be there because he had started school. They had a rousing day of fun, playing volleyball, making sandcastles, and burying Superboy in the sand. Robin told them that they'd be getting two new members but kept it a surprise who they were. They all suited up at the appropriate time and went to wait out in the main room. The teleporters lit up after awhile and out walked Batman and Green Arrow. Behind them walked two girls, one in a green costume and the other in a purple and black costume. Megan squealed with joy and rushed forward to give the girl in the purple costume a hug.

After introductions were made they waited on Kid Flash who was said to arrive any minute. On time the teleporter lit up and Kid Flash rushed out, but to Robin's great annoyance he rushed out in a swimsuit with various beach paraphernalia.

"The Wall-man is in the house, let's get this party start-" he suddenly tripped and a beach ball bounced off in front of him. As he looked up from the ground Kid Flash suddenly realized how out of place he was.

"Wall-man" Artemis said in a voice that suggested she was trying hard not to laugh "love the uniform, what exactly are your powers.?"

"Uh, who's this?" Kid Flash asked.

"Artemis you're new teammate."

"Kid Flash, never heard of you."

Batgirl walked forward and introduced herself as well and Kid Flash just scowled.

Green Arrow then strode towards Artemis and said "she's my new protégé."

"Wait, what happened to your old one?"

Then they all heard and saw the Teleporter start up, saying "_Recognized, Speedy, B06."_

Speedy strode out of the light and said in an annoyed voice "well for starters he doesn't go by Speedy anymore."

Everyone took a moment to look at Speedy/Red Arrow, he'd exchanged his outfit for a new red and black outfit. Then Green Arrow walked towards him.

"Roy, you look-"

"Replaceable!" Red Arrow spat.

"It's not like that; you said you were going solo."

"So why waste time finding a sub? Can she even use that bow?"

Artemis walked forward too and said in a dignified voice "yes, I can."

"Who are you!" Kid Flash asked.

Both Green Arrow and Artemis said at the same moment a variation of "she's my niece."

Aqualad sought to defuse the tension in the room as he entered the conversation "She is not your replacement; we have always wanted you on this team and we have no quota on archers in this team."

"And if we did, you totally know who we'd pick."

Robin didn't even look at Wally as he said "Kid, shut up."

Kid Flash stepped back and crossed his arms as he sulked.

Robin looked at Red Arrow and said "you came to us for a reason."

Speedy looked him up and down and said in a contemptuous voice "don't tell me they gave you the job?"

Robin just narrowed his eyes.

"What, did Batman bribe the League or something to get you the job. What a joke, a 13-year-old who can't stop laughing and vanishing in charge of the team. I'll be surprised if you last 5 minutes into the mission."

Superboy started to take a step forward while cracking his knuckles in anger at the insults to his best friend. But Megan put a hand on his shoulder and said mentally _"Robin knows how to handle himself. He wouldn't like you tearing Roy apart."_

Superboy stood still for a moment, then stepped back, but still glared at Red Arrow. Batgirl also scowled at the unfair description of Robin.

Aqualad also came to Robin's defense "I think you're being a bit unfair Reoy. Robin has taken the job very seriously and has led us to victory on each of the missions."

Red Arrow just smirked at Robin and said "whatever, I came here for a reason, and that reason is called Dr. Sirling Roquette. She's a nanotechnology genius from Star City and she vanished 2 weeks ago or rather was abducted 2 weeks ago. By the League of Shadows."

Kid Flash's face lit up "you want us to rescue her. Hardcore."

"I already rescued her, but there's just one problem. The Shadows had already forced her to make a weapon."

He inserted a flash drive into the computer and several images came up, one of them showing what looked like an electronic cross between a beetle and a scarab.

"The Doc calls it "The Fog." It's comprised of millions of microscopic robots. They're capable of disintegrating anything in their path, stone, glass, flesh. But its true purpose isn't just destruction. The robots can hack terminals and download any information."

Artemis cut in "perfect for extortion, manipulation, power brokering, yeah sounds like the shadows."

Kid Flash began speaking but Robin glanced at him and he shut his mouth again, remember his previous orders.

"The Doc's working on a virus to render "The Fog" inert. But the Shadows know so they're going to target her. Right now she'd off the grid. She's stashed in the local high school's computer lab."

"You left her alone" said Green Arrow incredulously.

"She's safe enough for now!"

"Then let's you and I keep her that way."

"You and I? Don't you mean your new protégé?"

Green Arrow was about to say more but Batman grabbed his shoulder. Arrow gestured to the room at large and said "you brought this to the team, now it's their mission, which makes it her mission too."

"Then my work's done." Red Arrow said. He walked back towards the teleporter but as he passed Robin he looked at him and Robin could tell he didn't trust him to be a good leader.

Before Red Arrow reached the teleporter Robin called out "Roy, I respect the reasons that you want to be solo. But let me make something clear, it would be better if you kept us as your friends, not enemies. A good step towards that would be to get a better attitude.

Roy turned to glare at Robin but Robin matched him eye for eye and after a few seconds, Roy turned away. He walked to the teleporter and the familiar voice said _"recognized, Speedy."_

"That's Red Arrow, B06, update" and then he was gone in a flash of light.

* * *

In the school Robin had set the team up in specific locations but before they had gone he'd given them a motivational speech.

"The fate of the world could potentially hang on this. I want nothing but the best from you all, which is what I've come to expect. That means no infighting, no questioning orders, and no slip-ups. Some might think that this team is just a way to keep us as sidekicks. Well I say let's prove them wrong and go above and beyond the call of duty. Mors importantly, we are a team, we are the Young Justice!"

Once they were all in place Robin had Ms. Martian link up the team in order to avoid communicator interception.

"Ugh, this is weird" remarked Artemis.

"And distracting. Writing a complex computer virus is hard enough, now I have to hear Teen think in my skull."

"Lady, do you always complain when someone tries to help you?"

Artemis started to say something, but Robin, sensing an argument starting, quickly said "that's enough chatter. Artemis, go help the others on the outside patrol. Dr., can you track the fog?"

"Of course I can, but I'd have to go online. Might as well rent a huge billboard with my name and address!"

"Calm down, we're here to protect you."

The Dr. thought a bit, then said "tracking fog now."

A few minutes later, the fog was found and Robin debated who to send. He could go of course, but then he'd have to delegate the task of leading to Aqualad. Not that he didn't trust Aqualad it was just that on missions as important as ones like this he preferred to keep his hands wrapped as tightly as he could around the team. Superboy should go; his invulnerability made him one of the only one's who could withstand The Fog. But he was divided on the others. It was against the league of shadows and it required some technology experience. Then he had a brainwave. Send Artemis.

From the looks of things she and Kid Flash weren't gonna get along well. Send her with Superboy would solve that problem, at least for the time being. Also, her history with the League of Shadows might make her a liability. Also, Robin had an alternative to use if the virus no longer became an option. He called the two to him and gave them what looked like a small grenade. When they asked what it was he just said "it's a precaution in case the Virus doesn't work."

The two got into the Bio-Ship and it took off towards Philadelphia.

The building became quiet once more. Ms. Martian and Aqualad took patrol duty outside, Kid Flash took patrolling the halls, Batgirl stayed on the roof and Robin paced the room in which the Doc was seated.

Robin wished he could've put up cameras but they'd been so rushed for time he hadn't been able to. He continued to pace until he heard something. Any other person besides Batman would've missed it, but years of fighting in the dark backalleys of Gotham had sharpened his ears to miniscule sounds.

Without warning seemingly he threw two objects. One deflected every shuriken coming towards the Dr. while the other hit the doorframe and covered it with a wall of ice. Knowing that wouldn't last Robin shouted "GET DOWN DR.!"

Then he said mentally "WE'RE UNDER ATTACK IN THE COMPUTER LAB!"

Not even pausing to listen to the others Robin looked as the wall of ice smashed inwards and received a shock as he saw yet another familiar face.

Granted he had only known her as a nameless villain who was part of the Brotherhood of Evil, but still the fact stood that the grinning mask of Cheshire was staring at him. Robin drew two of his Birdarangs and two short swords sprouted in his hands.

Cheshire advanced, toting two extremely sharp short swords and remarked "oooh, you're good" in a mocking sort of voice.

She darted forward as quick as lightning and Robin blocked as the blades darted two and fro. Robin parried and blocked for a few seconds before his foot lashed out and connected with Cheshire's stomach. She stumbled back and then stood up. But as she held up her swords she suddenly had to whirl around and block a club made of water.

Aqualad and Batgirl had arrived on the scene. Robin caught vaguely that Megan was tied up in saving Kid Flash or something but he was still grateful that he now had some backup in the room.

Cheshire and Aqualad were dueling now and Robin joined the fray. Batgirl circled around with a Batarang, looking for an opening.

Cheshire found herself having to defend on both sides. Against anyone else in the group she might've had a chance, but against Aqualad who was moderate in fencing talent and Robin, who had been trained by arguably the most skilled man alive, well, she didn't want to stick around and get captured.

She grabbed a smoke pellet and threw it to the ground. Robin, having used this trick himself on many occasions, tried to find her but she was gone.

"She's getting away, you're letting her get away!" Dr. Roquette was shouting again. Robin just turned around and fixed her with a stare that told her in no uncertain terms that she was starting to get on his nerves. She got the hint.

Robin interviewed the others on what had happened. Apparently Megan and Aqualad had seen and heard nothing, Batgirl had thought she'd seen some shadows but concluded it must've been her imagination, Kid Flash had seemed some obvious shadows, so of course, him being his usual self. He'd neglected to inform the team and had gotten himself knocked out.

Robin contacted the away team and found they had bad news too. The lab in Philadelphia had been completely destroyed and ransacked. All the technology from the labs was now in the hands of the shadows.

Robin made the decision to move the Dr. As they moved he noted that at times like these it would pay to have a hidey hole to store the dock in, like the Batcave, only more replaceable. But then again, that problem might soon be remedied as the funds he borrowed from Bruce came through.

Robin took no chances this time and placed cameras everywhere. He also planted a few surprises for the enemy around the building where Megan would be impersonating the Dr.

* * *

Batgirl had the duty of patrolling the outside. She went through the motions of pretending to order Megan to make a perimeter sweep. Suddenly she felt something sticky hit her from above and she was dragged up into the trees and mercilessly kicked and hit until she lost consciousness.

* * *

Inside the building the doors suddenly flew open and what looked like a ninja in a skin-tight purple suit leapt in through the doors. Kid Flash jumped up and went to challenge the intruder while Aqualad found himself faced with a man with a huge hook on a chain for one of his arms. Neither of them noticed a window near the ceiling opening as Cheshire readied a crossbow.

What Cheshire didn't know was that one of the cameras Robin had set up was currently trained on her and he was waiting to push a button with a small smirk on his face. Cheshire fired her dart but one of the bench's flew up to block it.  
"MARTIAN'S HERE, IT'S NOW OR NEVER!"

Cheshire leapt as the bench was pulled away by the Spider ninja but at the exact right moment. A bomb that had been placed at that exact window by Robin detonated.

Cheshire was blasted all the way across the room and hit the opposite wall. By the time she got up she was extremely angry. She leapt at Roquette/Megan but was intercepted mid-jump by Batgirl, who seemed to have been woken up by the explosion.

* * *

Robin, over in a small internet café a few blocks down, got a message from Artemis.

"Robin, the next target is a WayneTech facility."

Robin blanched. Almost everything that he and Batman used came from Waynetech, in theory among all the data they would get the Shadows could use the link to hack the Batcave, and perhaps even the Watchtower after that. The mission suddenly became all the more dire.

"USE THE BOMB, USE MY BOMB NOW!"

"Okay, how?"

"THERE'S A BUTTON ON THE TOP, PUSH IT AND YOU HAVE THREE SECONDS BEFORE IT BLOWS. THROW IT BY THE FOG AND IT'LL DO THE REST!"

* * *

In Gotham, the Shadows agent had released the fog and it headed towards the Waynetech building. Artemis broke one of her arrows and prepared to fire with the bomb strapped to the end. But at that moment a beam of red light hit her. The League of Shadow's agent was wearing a helmet that was similar to Seemore's in that it allowed him to shoot a beam of energy from one eye.

Superboy had an idea and whispered it to Artemis. She nodded and immediately began firing off indiscriminately in the Agent's direction. Superboy grabbed the bomb and leapt towards the fog. The Agent tried to blast him but he couldn't aim as he continually had to dodge Artemis's shots.

Superboy landed right in the fog and he could feel the millions of robotic insects crawling all over him. But thanks to his Kyptonian resistance they couldn't hurt him. He pressed the button on the bomb and 3 seconds later it began blasting what looked like blue smoke out of it. Superboy looked on in confusion but then saw that the Blue smoke was, for lack of a better word, eating up The Fog.

Within 10 seconds all of The Fog was gone and the blue smoke zipped back into the bomb. Superboy stared at it, and then he was reminded of the Shadow's agent by a shout from Artemis and rushed to deal with him.

* * *

The fight inside the lab with the phony Roquette raged on. Kid Flash and Aqualad were relatively evenly matched against their opponents but Batgirl was outclassed and she knew it. She was slowly but surely accumulating a number of scratches and nicks as Cheshire's blades danced around her.

Then, Batgirl heard a muffled noise coming from inside Cheshire's helmet, likely an order from her superiors, and then Cheshire shouted "THE FOG'S GONE, RETREAT!"

Cheshire then kicked Batgirl in the stomach and ran out the back of the building. The others were not so lucky. The man with the chain was knocked unconscious by Aqualad as he tried to leave and the spider guy was hit by Megan as he tried to leave.

They all sat panting; not quite believing that it was over.

* * *

In the computer lab, Roquette stared at Robin with and incredulous look.

"We didn't even need the virus, how'd you disable the fog?"

"_Yeah Rob, how'd you do that."_

"_I must confess my curiosity as well."_

Robin grinned mischievously "I guess that's something that I'd like to keep to myself. Just ask yourselves this, how many different types of things do Batman and I have to deal with?"

Actually, Robin had Slade to thank for the little invention he'd put to use. After Slade had used the Nanoscopic probes on his team to make Robin become his apprentice (something he swore would never happen again), Robin had had Cyborg design a portable countermeasure. The grenade carried millions of advanced nano-sized probes of Cyborg's own design that were meant to specifically seek out and destroy non-organic nanoscopic probes. Once let out, they scanned the immediate area for probes, if they found any they promptly destroyed them while avoiding harm to any people in the area. Once all the enemy probes were destroyed, they returned to the sphere they were stored in.

Robin congratulated the team as they headed back to Mt. Justice, especially Artemis, whom he made everyone acknowledge. Even Kid Flash.

* * *

In a room sat the leader of the League of Shadows. He gave his report to the 7 screens of light.

"We managed to retrieve the STAR Labs technology. However, the Waynetech technology eluded us."

"_Once again, the Young heroes interfere."_

"_But I find Robin the most interesting, we managed to hear some of their communication and he was responsible for The Fog's destruction, not Roquette. He would make a fine Appprentice for me."_

"_However that may be, Robin continues to draw our interest. He may be useful, if he is made to see the Light."_

The League of Shadows leader smiled evilly.

* * *

That night, Robin had an especially vivid dream. He dreamed he was standing on the edge of an enormous chasm. On the other side stood a girl he could just make out as Raven. Between them it looked like there was a bridge of light that was trying to form but it continually faded out of existence. Robin saw that Raven was the one who was trying to form the bridge and he called out to her. She called back but he couldn't make out any words. He kept trying but he could hear nothing. This continued for some time as Raven continually tried to form the bridge.

Then, Raven turned away and vanished. Then Robin heard some scrabbling and looked down into the chasm. The younger Robin he'd seen before was trying desperately to claw his way out. Robin got the feeling that he didn't belong in the chasm but he could do nothing. The Younger Robin began screaming at him that he was cruel and that he didn't belong up there. Then he slipped and fell back into the chasm. Darkness fell quickly.

Robin didn't dream anymore that night.

* * *

_I feel like the chapters I've been putting out lately have been rather substandard. At least on this story. Please review and tell me what I'm doing wrong if so. _

_So now Batgirl is a part of the team. I apologize if that part was clumsily done. I hope you enjoyed the chapter._

_Let me give you something to think about. The dreams aren't there just for fun. They actually have a point._

_In an attempt to end all questions like when will the Titans come in and when will everyone find out about Robin I will say this: __**I am not going to spoil those parts! Seriously to say when would spoil a large part of the story so be patient. I know when they're coming so rest assure I have it under control.**_

* * *

_**CUE MAILBAG!:**_

SuperninjaX

Oh man! LIVE IT UPDATE SOON!

_**Thank you.**_

_**PS, try to calm yourself adequately next time to leave a coherent message. (lol, I couldn't really understand the LIVE IT part. Sorry :) )**_

Mika-Mustang

Woot =D Update! Love the fight with Robin and Canary! Plus, Robins little speech to Superman was great ^_^ Amazing chapter, but then again, that's nothing new =D

_**Thank you, I hope you like this chapter as well.**_

Rinka tokmiya

:) I liked it alot! Please update soon!

Question...: When do the titans come in?

_**The Titans will come when they come. Trust me, have patience.**_

KaliAnn

The way Batman in this story trust Robin and allows him to speak his mind about team issues shows the character difference between the two versions. I loved the fight between Black Canary and Robin. It showed how far he's come. They way he and Superboy worked together shows the same brotherly love that is suppose to exist between their fathers. Smart of Robin to call in Batgirl for Ivo. Like the message to Superman. Well if Skip is going through his version of puberty by eating so much, (that's what I meant by packing it in!) then all the better! I only have one question. Should Robin be made aware that the League is using Artemis as a double agent?

_**The versions of Batman can be different but also another thing I'm trying to get at is that this is a bit of an education for YJ Batman and you can bet he's taking notes so he doesn't make the same mistakes TT Batman does.**_

_**Robin has been made aware of something about Artemis. To be revealed later.**_

_**Thank you for your review. I am indebted to you for being my best and most constant reviewer.**_

Riqis Inna Sunja

That was great! and dont worry about update gaps with me, i havent been able to updazte my story in a few weeks, i dont have a computer, im reviewing this on my phone! i cant wait for the next chapter! good luck!

_**Hope you like it, thanks for the understanding.**_

TobiGB

Sorry I didn't review the last two chapters which were both really good and I enjoyed both Batgirl and Slade.

I enjoyed the talk Robin had with Superboy it was nice of him and I hope superman change his attitude towards Superboy.

I look forward to see how you do the next chapter/episode with Artemis.

I have two questions though will Robin be in the Kent Nelson mission. Will get to see how YJ Robin is doing? Well anyway keep up the good work I look foward to the next chapter.

_**It's alright. Robin can definitely connect with Superboy on the matter of a disappointing Father-Figure.**_

_**Robin will be part of the Kent Nelson mission as he is now living at Mt. Justice.**_

_**Hope you like this.**_

WhatNooooI'mNotACONTRACTOR

So... Nice job I like it.

_**Why thank you. :)**_

zz73

woo that was good what are you gonna donext but i thought this would be more about robin

_**This is mostly about how Robin will try and lead and secure a good future for the YJ. He recognizes that they are key to the future just like the Teen Titans.**_

Renegade

This is the best young justice fic I have ever read! I was dying for this update! Your writing is fantastic and I hope you update soon :)

_**I'm truly sorry about the long update gap. Thank you for the thoughtful review.**_

Evil Soul

Hey, sorry I haven't reviewed this chapter sooner and that it's so short. Been very busy lately with some short courses, job hunting and having a new girlfriend.

Anyway, this chapter was pretty good. Not as long as usual, but quality over quantity. It was better than the last chapter, but maybe not quite up to the standards of some of the previous chapters. Still, can hardly wait for the next chapter. Have fun.

_**Good luck with all three, I can sympathize because I just started a Technical School.**_

_**I'm on pins and needles as I sort of consider you to be one of the critique people of my chapters. I enjoy your reviews immensely because they are usually so thorough. **_

_**Hope this chapter is good enough. **_

* * *

_Good Day and God Bless :)_

_Sincerely, LordGodsServant_


	13. Universal Jumper

_Got this one done quickly. Most likely another filler will follow this one._

_Before we go on, a note of honor to reviewer "Sincerely Seven" who inspired this chapter through the last review._

* * *

At the Star Labs in Gotham a robbery was taking place.

Inside the technology wing were various people in orange prison outfits. But the man ordering them around and who was grabbing pieces of technology himself, was dressed up in a costume. He had a battle suit on. It looked like thin pieces of crimson metal coated him like a thin suit of armor. It wasn't clunky though, it moved with precision as he did and didn't inhibit his movement at all. Off of the arms of the battlesuit sprouted a large metal claw apiece. Only his face was visible, worn and scarred. It was obvious that he had had a rough life.

He ordered his men to grab the last pieces and then they ran, leaving the Lab to be surrounded by the police a half-hour later.

* * *

Commishioner Gordon had another look at the scene of the crime. From the looks of the security camera it had been a group of people about as big as the normal crime gang, about 30 average prison inmates with one leader in a menacing looking battle suit.

The interesting thing was that they had only stolen technology from one wing of the lab. Everything else had been left behind. Perhaps they'd gotten jittery and run before the cops arrived.

He heard a cape swish and turned around. A boy in a black and red costume was standing there before him. He gave a small smile; the Boy Wonder in his own way could intimidate the denizens of Gotham just like Batman.

"Nice to see you again Jim."

"Same here. Where's Batman?"

"Off on a mission with the League, Batgirl's busy so he asked if I could look after Gotham for a bit."

Robin walked over and looked in at one of the most heavily pilfered rooms.

"So, run the facts by me Jim."

"The perpetrators are inmates who were freed from prisons of cities all within a day's driving distance. None from Arkham Asylum, guess the boss didn't want to let the rest of the freaks out. The items stolen are only from this wing of the Labs."

"Why's that."

"We don't know, this section was devoted to studying the concept of alternate universes."

Gordon didn't notice but Robin's eyes widened substantially.

"Any and all tech. relating to the study was taken in the raid. Another interesting thing about the normal crooks in the group. All of the people except for the boss were people who had life sentences with no chance of parole."

Robin nodded and walked into the room, checking it over. After he was done he walked back to Gordon.

"I'll look into it."

Gordon nodded and he watched Robin walk outside, shoot off his grapple, and disappear into Gotham. He shook his head, it was a crazy life he lived, but he was the one chosen to live it and he might as well make the best of it. He turned and ordered his men to count up the losses and then to pack up and head back to the station.

* * *

In the Batcave Robin was sitting in front of the Bat-Computer. He was going over all the data he had on the Star Labs facility. Currently he was watching a camera feed and watching the leader, the guy in the battle-suit.

He'd never seen a guy like him before, must be a new villain.

He heard the door to the Batcave open and smelled some delicious food. He turned to see Alfred walking in, balancing two trays on his hands.

"Master Grayson, I believe you enjoy fried Cod and fries. It is a welcome break from the normal criminal activities. I also took the liberty of providing some fruits and vegetables to balance out your nutrition. I have brought enough for two."

"Thanks Alfred, you really are the best cook I'll ever know."

"You flatter me Master Grayson, but surely someone in your universe could've beaten me in the culinary arts."

Robin chuckled as both he and Alfred helped themselves to some food.

"Not really, back in my world my team was actually continually bickering on food. Beast Boy wouldn't eat meat because he could turn into animals himself, Cyborg on the other hand loved meat, Raven only usually drank herbal tea, and Starfire would always try to make some sort of alien food that almost blew up the tower several times."

"Your team appears to be quite diverse."

Robin grinned as he recalled "yeah, we were all as different as the leaves on the trees in Autumn. But somehow we got along, and in time, we became a family."

Alfred smiled, he could attest to how strange the closest family could be, Bruce, his Robin, and even the Commishioner in a sense, were all part of the same family. And now they had inducted a new member, the Robin of another world.

Robin turned back to the screen and Alfred looked at the robbery and the man who had led it.

"What do you make of him master Grayson?"

"He's new, probably trying to keep a low-profile. Must've been driven pretty hard by something to steal from Star Labs, probably impatience."

Robin stood up and said "I might be away for a day or so Alfred."

"Why, where are you going master Grayson?"

"The only other Star Labs that I know of that deals with cross-Universe technology is the Star Labs in Central City."

"Isn't that the hometown of the Flash?"

"Yes, but unfortunately he's away on the same mission with Batman."

"But what of Gotham?"

"I'll call in some backup; Barbara will get her work done quickly if she needs to. And she can help Megan and Superboy to patrol Gotham."

"Are you sure it's wise letting those two out in Gotham. They do not have the experience you do with the city."

"They're experienced enough; this'll be a good learning opportunity for them. Besides, Barbara knows what she's doing. They'll listen to her, especially since Bab's is now an honorary member of the Young Justice."

"I see, how many other honorary members of the Young Justice are there?"

"Just counting the young people, two. The Blue Beetle and Batgirl. If you count the older people I gave communicators to, four."

"Who are the two older people?"

"One is a Russian man called Red Star and the other is a Green Lantern call Guy Gardner."

"I see. Well, it seems I shall have to cook for three now."

Robin smiled "if you don't mind."

Alfred placed a hand on Robin's shoulder. Though he knew that this Robin was 16 years old he still thought of him as a young boy.

"Good luck master Grayson."

"Thanks Alfred."

* * *

The morning dawned on Central City. Robin watched it rise; musing on how much the city differed from Gotham.

Then, shaking his head he headed towards the Star Labs facility.

He'd explained to the others his request and they'd agreed to it. Robin was grateful. Barbara had agreed to keep them out of trouble and the other two had agreed to follow her lead. Robin would never forgive himself if they got hurt. J'Onn, the Martian Manhunter would probably never forgive him either.

Robin sat on a rooftop overlooking Star Labs and waited. It was a stakeout; he was waiting for something to happen. While he was waiting he familiarized himself with the research that was going on inside the building.

Star Labs was investigating the concept of an Alternate Universe that existed parallel to our own. Robin would've called the word concept a waste, he was living proof alternate universes existed.

He was still reading when he suddenly noticed that several large vans had pulled up to the building. He watched as about 30 men filed out, he recognized some of them from the security footage he'd seen. They all filed into the building and their boss, the guy in the battle suit, followed them. Robin quietly slipped in through a window and climbed into a ventilation shaft.

He followed a schematic of the building he'd hacked to get and eventually found himself staring down into a room where the gang members were scurrying about. Grabbing pieces of technology their boss shouted "take everything, I've almost completed it and this is all we need!"

Robin wondered what he meant and got ready to leap into the room.

Then a flash of red and yellow and there stood Kid Flash, grinning from ear to ear.

"You know, usually criminals aren't this stupid about what they're stealing."

Laser cannons grew out of the leader's suit and he shot. Kid just dodged around the room.

While they were distracted, Robin leapt into the room and kicked one of the men. He heard Kid groan as he realized that Robin was there. Robin wondered why Kid was always so annoyed with him; his Kid Flash had had the same amount of goofy, laziness but none of the plain rebelliousness.

Robin ducked as one of the men tried to grab him and sucker-punched him in the gut. Then Robin had to pull off several difficult backflips as the man in the suit tried to vaporize him.

As he jumped Robin said "could you at least tell me your name before you kill me?"

"Rift" the man said "if you really want to know my name is Rift. But I don't expect you'll see me again after today."

Kid Flash charged him but Rift swept his arm out and smashed Kid into a wall.

Then Rift shouted "enough, we have the parts, retreat!"

The criminals ran out of the room and Rift lingered in the door, fiddling with something. Kid Flash charged but Robin shouted "NO KID STOP!"

Wally ignored him but a moment before he hit Rift, a forcefield sprung up in the doorway, trapping them in the room. Kid Flash hit the forcefield hard and fell back.

Rift chuckled and then ran.

Robin ran to Kid's side and saw that he'd been knocked out. Robin rummaged around in his utility belt and got out two smelling salts. He held them under Kid's nose and Kid suddenly began coughing and he sat up.

Kid looked around and finally looked at Robin. Robin was not pleased.

"Kid, why didn't you stop when I told you to, you had time to."

Wally got up and walked to the other side of the room, he stared at the wall with his arms crossed.

"Wally, why are you always so against whatever I say. 50% of the time when I give an order you either complain or try to get around it. Why? What do you have against me?"

Kid Flash whirled around, anger written all across his face "for your information "Rob" you're not always right! And another thing, this is my town your in so I don't need to listen to you, I'll figure this case out by myself so you can just go on your merry way back to Gotham."

Robin stared at him for a second, and then replied "this case started in Gotham so I can come here if I want. You can't stop me Kid."

They both sat glaring at each other and then Kid muttered, too low for Robin to hear "what happened to you Robin?"

"What's that?"

"Nothing . . . fine. You can help me. But this time, we're equals. You're not the leader, I'm not the leader, we're both just equals. "

Robin considered this. He'd been having trouble with Kid since day one; maybe this was a chance to improve that. He agreed.

"Right, so, any clue as to where they went?"

Robin grinned "during the fight I managed to attach a tracer to one of them. I know exactly where they are."

* * *

In an old abandoned shoe factory in the poorer part of Central City, the final adjustments were being completed. Rift was finalizing a belt that had numerous buttons on it. His men were waiting impatiently.

Finally, he finished and clasped the belt around his waist. It glowed and all of his men "oohed," and "aaahed."

He turned to them and began his speech "friends, colleagues, and coworkers. Our work has come to fruition. I freed you all with a proposition. If you would work for me, I would take you to a world where you could have second chance, and we could have free run to become any type of criminals we wanted without pesky heroes interfering. Now that dream is finally being realized."

"Funny thing about dreams is that they're oh, so breakable" shouted a voice.

Kid Flash zoomed in on the far side of the room and Robin burst in through a window.

Both got ready to fight but Rift simply smiled. He tapped some buttons on his belt and said "come friends, let us leave this world behind and go to join the Injustice Syndicate."

What looked like a hole in the fabric of reality itself appeared. It had a white outline but inside all they could see was a black tunnel leading off into the distance. All the men rushed towards it. Kid Flash intercepted many of them, knocking them out and stopping them from entering while Robin shot off his grapple and it latched onto the arm of Rift.

But suddenly Robin found himself being pulled and he shouted for help. Kid was there instantly but that was a mistake. As soon as Kid got a firm grip they both were tugged forward and disappeared into the portal. Robin could still see the 20 or so people ahead of them as they flew down the black tunnel. Both he and Kid Flash held onto each other, afraid that if they let go they'd be separated.

Then a bright light appeared at the end and they were all speeding towards it. They reached it and suddenly they found themselves hitting hard pavement. They lay there for a few seconds, trying to get their bearings.

Then Robin and Kid stood up and found themselves looking around at what looked like Central City. They saw that a few feet away, Rift and his cronies were also trying to get there bearings.

They saw Rift tap a button and spoke aloud; probably he had turned on some sort of communication device.

"We're here, but we brought some trouble with us, pick us up now!"

Robin shook his head and then reached into his belt and drew his bo-staff. Kid Flash got ready to fight as well but then they saw a telephone booth glowing with the same light Robin attributed to the teleporters the League used.

Out stepped two boys and Robin looked them up and down. They seemed strangely familiar. One gestured to the criminals and said "that can take you to the Mountain; it's all set to let you through." Then they turned to Robin and Kid Flash.

They walked towards them and then stopped. The two sides glared at each other.

"Who are you?" Kid Flash demanded.

The taller one laughed "you mean you haven't already guessed it? Let me give you a hint, I'm Kid Quickster and he's Owlboy."

"We're in a parallel universe" Robin said aloud.

Owlboy grinned "that's right, Rift here has been contacting us across the Universe's, says he has a deal for us that's worth a fortune. I can't wait to hear it at the meeting later. If you haven't already noticed, we're the counterparts to you."

Robin and Kid Flash looked the two kids up and down, they were wearing identical costumes but the colors were swapped. For instance, where Kid Flash's suit would've been red, Kid Quickster's was yellow and where Kid Flash's suit would've been yellow, it was red.

Kid Quickster smiled, a mean smile, nothing nice about it.

"I heard about your world from Rift, sounds like a pretty pathetic place."

"Oh, yeah, since when?"

"He told us how your "Justice League" protects people. I can't believe any version of us would all that far to being a hero. All that power and you do nothing but waste it on the weak . . . pathetic."

Robin gripped his staff even harder, his mind racing on what to do. Then Owlboy said "enough questions, I want to get home and eat lunch." He tapped a communicator in his ear and said "yeah, I want the whole team. Come through the teleporter."

Out of the teleporter appeared four people. Robin instantly recognized them for who they were. The girl with blond hair in a red costume was Artemis's counterpart. But something gained Robin's immediate attention, the Superboy alternate had a completely blank look on his face and a headband stretching around his head. Megan's alternate was gazing at him with a very sad look on her face and Robin was astounded when he saw her mouth the words to him "I'm sorry." Aqualad's alternate had a completely blue bodysuit on, not unlike the Aqualad from Robin's home universe.

Then they attacked.

Kid Flash quickly jumped to avoid a punch from his alternate but then had to block again. It was weird because for him it was almost always like people moved slower than him during battle but now he had someone who moved the same speed he did. Now he remembered the training Black Canary had given him and began striking back, he began to dictate the terms of the battle.

Then he felt something hit him from behind and saw that Megan's counterpart, with a rather downcast look on her face, was lifting objects and throwing them at him. He dodged as a trashcan flew at him. He also had to contend with Aqualad trying to hit him.

Robin dodged around Superboy's counterparts swings. He was intensely curious as to why Superboy seemed to be completely unaware. Then he dodged again as both a swing and an Arrow flew his way. Then Owlboy swung at him as well and Robin barely dodged.

After a few minutes, all of Kid Flash's and Robin's moves had devolved to dodging the enemy. They backed up in the alleyway and suddenly found their backs pressed up against a dead end.

The group of 6 teen villains advanced slowly, those who had weapons kept them trained on the two heroes.

Owlboy began speaking in a confident, mocking voice "if the rest of the heroes in your world are so pathetic perhaps we should invade and take it over. It would be fun instead of trying to deal with all those pests in this world who still think they can win against us."

Then they all heard a voice as a shadow was cast over all of them.

"Funny, the fact that you can't catch us could say how pathetic you are."

Several things that looked like marbles hit the ground in the middle of the villains and smoke burst out of them. Robin and Kid Flash saw a rope thrown to them and they scrambled up it as fast as possible. As they got to the top they saw who their savior was and Robin jerked in surprise at the red cape and dome-shaped hood. But the man just gestured for them to follow him and they did so.

As they leapt from rooftop to rooftop they were struck at how run-down the city seemed to be. This was supposed to be counterpart to Central City but it looked more along the lines of Gotham City. Trash was stuck everywhere and homeless people wandered the streets in droves. The man led them into the shadows of another building and pulled a manhole open. They all hurried in and replaced the manhole on the top.

They ran on for a good 10 minutes and then they stopped while gasping. Then the man turned to them and said "now, I think we both want explanations so why don't we walk along and compare notes."

"Sure, Red Hood."

"I take it I'm a villain in your world."

"In a sense, you don't go by Red Hood anymore."

"Really, what name did he take?"

"The Joker."

Kid Flash gasped as he gazed at the man who was in a black tuxedo and wearing a red dome that covered his head and a red cape. Red Hood considered the name as they continued walking.

"Huh, the Joker, I considered that myself but eventually decided to stick with Red Hood."

"Okay, everybody stop!"

They turned to look at Kid Flash who was massaging his temples. I'm so confused, we fight our evil selves and suddenly we're saved by the Joker's good twin who likes hoods. I want a full explanation from the beginning!"

Robin smirked "okay, Rift created a belt that allows him to access Alternate Universes. Apparently he contacted this one in order to try and make a deal. And we just fought the counterparts to the Young Justice, and this guy right here" he gestured to Red Hood "is the heroic counterpart of the Joker."

Kid Flash stood for a few moments, processing it all. Then he nodded and they moved on.

"So, how'd you know we were gonna be there?"

"I'd heard from my contacts that something was going to go down in that particular alleyway today so I headed over there. Lucky I got there in time."

"So, that happened to this world?"

Red Hood began to speak in a grim voice "years ago, supervillains began appearing. They began to increase in number and eventually the worst of the lot formed the Injustice Syndicate."

They came into a large area and they saw that this place held many pieces of technology. It had several trophies and on the whole reminded Robin of the Batcave, except without the Bat motif.

Red Hood walked up to a large computer and turned it on. The pictures of people Robin realized must be the Injustice Syndicate Members showed up on the screen.

"The main leaders are Ultraman, Owlman, Martian Manhunter, Ocean Emperor, Quickster, and Superwoman."

"Superman, Batman, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Flash, and Wonder Woman" said Robin as he listed off the League's counterparts.

"Ultraman is the boss of bosses. He runs it all but lets the other do a good amount of free-wheeling."

The screen changed and it showed the kids they'd fought.

"This bundle of joy is called the Junior Injustice Syndicate. They're the protégé's of the villains and were organized to be on a team just like the older ones. They're under the command of Silver Cyclone, a robot with tornado based powers. They all enjoy their life of crime immensely. At least most of them do."

"Most?"

"Ms. Martian isn't there of her own free will, I know that. Ultraboy is also under mind-control. That band he had around his head."

Robin considered this. Then he remembered something "they said that the deal would take place later today at the "Mountain."

Red Hood grinned, even though they couldn't see it "that helps a lot."

He tapped a button and a picture of what looked like Mt. Justice came up."

"I've known about Mt. Injustice for awhile. I thought they'd abandoned it, but apparently they think I've forgotten about it."

Kid Flash punched his fist "alright, let's go."

"Wait, they said later. We need to catch our breath and prepare. If we ever want to get home we need to get that belt away from Rift."

Kid Flash looked like he wanted to argue but then he sighed and went to sit down. He tried to find something to do. Robin and Red Hood continued chatting about their two universes and for some reason that made Kid Flash scowl and sulk. He turned away from Robin and contented himself to starting at the wall.

After a bit Robin noticed this and excused himself from Hood. He walked over and put his hand on Kid Flash's shoulder.

"Wally, what's wrong?"

Kid Flash didn't answer so Robin sat down beside him.

"Kid, why do you hate me?"

Wally looked at Robin, stunned.

"I don't hate you, why would you think I hate you?"

"From the way you've been acting towards me ever since the Young Justice was formed, it seems like you hate me. You question my orders; act insubordinate and all around have been unruly. I want to know why."

Kid Flash pondered for a long while. Finally, with great effort he said "alright, here's the real reason. Robin . . . you . . . kinda . . . well sort of . . . scare me."

Robin just looked at him with a confused look "why would I scare you?"

"Because I don't know you anymore?" Kid Flash burst out. "Ever since the start of the Cadmus Mission you're a different person. You hardly ever laugh, you're way too serious and you're . . . you're . . . just . . . not the guy I know! What happened to you? Did something horrible happen to you, did you lose a family member or something. I want to help you but I don't know how to!"

Robin looked away, unable to meet Wally's gaze. Only now did he realize the scope of how his differing personality must've affected Wally. Wally had been this Robin's best friend and suddenly out of the blue his best friend apparently changes his whole attitude. Robin could suddenly understand why he'd been so rebellious.

"Things change Wally. I'm sorry this happened. I hope that one day I'll be able to go back to those good old times."

Wally looked confused "but why so serious, why did you suddenly get so serious?"

"I saw a mission that needed a leader, I saw a team that needed a leader, and I stepped up to the plate and filled that role. I never intend to view it as a joke."

"I'll never ask you to, but you never talk to me anymore except to give an order!"

Robin thought a long time.

" . . . I'm sorry Wally; I've been too caught up in my work. I haven't been fair to you. I really am sorry."

They both sat, contemplating each other's revelations. Kid Flash thought about how he'd spent sleepless nights, wondering what had happened to his best friend, writing in a diary because it was the only thing he knew to do that could help him find at least some release. He thought of how he'd become angry at Robin every time he saw examples of how much his friend had changed. He also thought of how he might have been a bit unfair by being insubordinate.

Robin thought about how he'd tried to adjust to trying to be Robin to a new team. He admittedly hadn't tried to be the old Robin, he could have never pulled that off. He wondered how much pain he'd caused Kid Flash and now felt a heavy guilt that he'd completely shunned any attempt to try and form a relationship with him. He resolved to do things differently from now on.

Then they heard Red Hood say "time to go." They both got up and Robin put his arm on Kid Flash's shoulder "I'm sorry Wally; I haven't been a very good person these last few months. But I promise I will try to make it up to you."

Kid Flash thought a few moments, then smiled.

* * *

Back in the Young Justice universe, in the Watchtower, the Martian Manhunter was watching feed of the Young Justice in action. In particular he was watching one clip where Superboy helped Ms, Martian up and she hugged him.

He smiled, Batman had informed him awhile ago of the two's budding relationship. He had since then watched it from afar and had been quite happy for M'Gann. He knew what it felt like to come to Earth and have to adapt to a completely new culture but he was glad that she had found an Earth person to love. Some may object and say that Superboy was kryptonian but J'Onn knew that Superboy, and even Superman where culturally humans.

He let them be, happy to watch their relationship flourish.

One thing he did not feel like doing however was to tell Clark. He had not earned the right as a father to know as J'Onn felt and he was certain Batman agreed with him.

* * *

At the Mountain base known as Mt. Injustice Ms. Martian and Ultraboy were patrolling the halls. They walked in a circle and met near the entrance. The Mountain had long since been abandoned and thus, only the teleporters were working for this occasion.

Megan saw Ultraboy and walked up to him. With a look of pain and sorrow on her face, she stared into his blank eyes that seemed devoid of life. Ever since they'd been found out she'd been paying the price ever since. The boy she loved was now trapped in his own head, his body being forced to do whatever work the team stuck him with. She traced his cheekbone and leaned against him. He did nothing, just looked at her with cold, unfeeling eyes. She looked back into his eyes and asked in a tremulous voice "Ultraboy, can you hear me?"

At first there was nothing, then Ultraboy blinked and his face suddenly flashed to a confused look, something woke up in the eyes. Megan gasped, but just as quickly as it had come, it was gone. His face returned to a blank stare and whatever life there had been there left his eyes.

Ultraboy continued to walk on and Megan leaned against the wall. She felt the anger and the overwhelming, crushing sadness of the hopelessness of her situation, well up inside her. Her head hunched over and the sobs came with the tears. She put her forehead against the cool wall and let her tears gather in a puddle as she sobbed. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around, hoping beyond hope to see Ultraboy smiling that smile he reserved only for her.

But instead she found Robin, Kid Flash and Red Hood all looking at her.

She didn't try to stop the tears, she was well beyond caring what they thought of her. She said in a tired voice "you shouldn't be here, they'll kill you, you know that?"

"Megan, why are you here?"

"Megan wasn't surprised he knew her name. She didn't know what to say, but finally settled on the fact that if she was to tell anyone, she could at least tell them, they were after all, heroes.

"It's Ultraboy, he and I, we love each other and we wanted to leave. We didn't want to be villains. But they found out and one day I walked in and they . . . they . . ." She collapsed to the ground and began sobbing in earnest, between the sobs she managed "they . . . hooked that thing up . . . to him . . . it represses his control . . . and keeps him locked up in his head . . . and my telekinesis won't work . . . and they blocked off his mind from my telepathy . . . I'm all alone!"

Robin laid another hand on Megan's heaving shoulder. He didn't know why he'd exposed himself in the first place. But the sight of Megan crying was like watching Starfire cry.

"You could help us, we'd try to save him."

Megan looked at him with fearful eyes "no . . . I can't . . . they said that if they catch one whiff of hero work they'll kill Ultraboy!"

Megan stood up and wiped her tears away "I won't tell them you're here, but you should leave right now. If we meet again, I'll probably have to fight you."

She then turned and stumbled off into the tunnels. They watched her go with pity for her situation heavy in their hearts.

* * *

In the main room, Rift and his cronies were surveying the people in front of them. True Rift had been speaking to them for awhile on a computer but meeting them face to face was surreal. They all bore striking resemblance to their counterparts. Even Silver Cyclone, the counterpart of Red Tornado looked a lot like Red Tornado, only he was colored blue and silver.

"_Waiting is pointless, state the reason you called us to this meeting"_ stated Silver Cyclone in an emotionless voice.

"Fine. I have in my possession a belt that allows me to hop from one universe to the next as easily as walking down the street. I am prepared to offer you that technology."

"_What use of universe transportation technology would we have?"_ the robot queried.

Rift spread his arms "why, to conquer other Earths of course. I'm sure it must get tiring here, having to only deal with pest control problems like Red Hood."

Rift watched as the young villain's faces turned extremely greedy, heck Kid Quick was practically salivating at the very concept of near infinite Earths to conquer.

"_What would you wish for in exchange of this technology?"_

"Membership as part of the Syndicate for me and my associates. Not as simple workman either, we expect to be put in charge of something important."

Silence reigned in the room as both sides considered the offer, then Cyclone turned towards the teleporter and called over his shoulder as he walked towards it."

"_We will consider your offer, until then you will stay with the Young Injustice Syndicate."_

He vanished through the teleporter and silence once again reigned in the room. Just as one of the villains was about to speak something hit the floor. They all glanced at it and suddenly it blasted out a cloud of smoke. They all began coughing and suddenly Owlboy and Kid Quickster felt extremely hard blows strike them on the backs of their heads. They fell down, unconscious, and as the smoke cleared, the remaining conscious villains saw the three heroes standing over them.

Ocean Prince (Aqualad's counterpart) formed two blades from his water manipulators and charged. Huntress (Artemis's counterpart), fired an explosive arrow that forced the heroes to leap out of the way. Rift smirked and gestured, his men charged forward.

Robin dodged as Ocean Prince swung, trying to fillet him, Kid Flash sped around, taking on the crooks from Rift's group, and Red Hood charged Huntress. Ocean Prince grew steadily angrier as he failed to even nick the boy in front of him. Finally in a rage he just charged, trying to slam into Robin. But suddenly Robin leapt up and swung his leg up to slam into his face. Ocean Prince fell down, groaning and clutching his head.

Then Robin looked at the battle in front of him, Kid Flash was doing alright against the crooks but it was obvious Red Hood was having some trouble. Robin grabbed one of his Birdarangs and took careful aim. Then he let it fly.

Just before Huntress released an arrow something flew right in front of her face. She jerked, but then realized she hadn't been hit. She looked around, and then froze as she gazed down at her bowstrings, now neatly cut and lying limp.

All she could mutter was a small "man!" before Red Hood's fist slammed into her face. Red Hood and Robin nodded at each other and Red Hood turned to help Kid Flash. Robin was about to do the same when he saw one person he hadn't wanted to fight come out of the tunnels, Ultraboy.

Ultraboy made a beeline straight for him and leapt in the air. Robin dodged as he landed and cracked the floor. Ultraboy continued to try and catch him but Robin found, much to his surprise, that he was able to easily dodge him, the mind-control band apparently didn't give him brains. Robin was reminded strongly of the time when he was at Cadmus, he probably had about as much chance of beating Ultraboy as he had Superboy.

Then a memory came to him, one of the things he'd tried to incapacitated Superboy, the Taser. It had barely hurt him if at all but it gave Robin an idea.

He dodged around Ultraboy's swinging blows and latched onto his back. Before Ultraboy could grab him he drew his taser and flicked it on. Then with all of this strength he jammed it into the band that circled the boy's head.

The electric current surged into it and Robin heard the device beginning to short out. He jumped off as Ultraboy clutched his head and began to groan.

Then the band exploded.

Ultraboy leaned over and Robin studied him, it hadn't caused any damage as far as he could see. Then he heard a yell and saw Ms. Martian floating over to Ultraboy. She put her hands on his face and in a delicate voice asked "Ultraboy, can you hear me?"

Ultraboy shook his head, then he smiled and said "yeah, finally."

Then the two hugged and Robin grinned, but a small growl made him turn around. Owlboy and Kid Quickster had gotten back up along with Ocean Prince. Robin got ready to fight but suddenly Ms. Martian and Ultraboy joined him on either side. In a commanding voice Ocean Prince commanded "MS MARTIAN, ULTRABOY, STAND DOWN!"

Ultraboy smiled and said one word he'd wanted to say for a long time "no."

Both sides charged.

Robin drew his bo-staff and his counterpart did the same. Their staffs slammed together time and again as they dueled across the room. Megan grabbed the various junk that littered the room and with it tried to hit Kid Quickster. It was obvious however that he was merely toying with her, sticking out his tongue and whatnot.

Ultraboy and Ocean met fist to fist and strained against each other. Then they separated and Ocean Prince slammed his fist into Ultraboy's face. Ultraboy merely cracked neck, grinned, and then slammed his fist into Ocean Prince's chest. The Atlantean flew back and slammed into the far wall. He looked up just in time to see Ultraboy's foot collide with his face, knocking him unconscious.

Robin dueled his adversary. He had to admit that Owlboy was good, but unfortunately for him he was nowhere on Robin's level, in both skill and physical training. Robin let Owlboy waste his energy on pointless attacks and saw that he was becoming more and more frustrated.

Finally, Robin sidestepped a downward hit and slammed his staff into Owlboy's back. Then he pressed his advantage, hitting Owlboy in many places. Finally, he rapped Owlboy smartly on the forehead and he fell to the ground, he didn't get up.

Kid Quickster was making rude finger gestures at Megan when he suddenly felt a fist slam into the back of his head and he also fell to the ground, completely unconscious.

The group looked around and saw that all of Rift's henchmen had been beaten. Rift himself was looking extremely nervous as he surveyed the group of heroes. Huntress had apparently flown the coop as she was nowhere to be seen.

Then Rift hit several buttons on his belt and said "I don't like it here anymore, I'm going home."

The portal opened and, before anyone could do anything, he dived into it.

Red Hood called to Robin and Kid Flash "QUICK, GO BEFORE IT CLOSES!"

Robin hesitated "but what about you, what about your world?"

"Don't worry about us, this may be your only ticket home. Besides" Robin could almost see him grinning as he gestured to Megan and Ultraboy "I'm not alone anymore."

Robin nodded, and then shook Red Hood's hand. Then he and Kid Flash entered the portal.

* * *

They exited the portal and suddenly, to their great surprise, found themselves back in the lobby of Mt. Justice. Robin just saw Rift turning a corner and pointed him out. Kid Flash ran ahead of Rift and Robin got behind him. Rift's hands strayed slowly towards his belt and Robin drew a birdarang.

Then a thought struck him, that belt could be a ticket home to him, it probably had numerous worlds on it and Robin could start searching for his home. But then, Rift was apt to cause a lot more damage.

Rift's hands had almost reached the belt when suddenly a Birdarang sprouted out of it. It fizzled and then, with a small burst of flame, blew up. Rift didn't even see it when Kid Flash's fist slammed into his face.

Rift fell back and as Robin walked up to him Kid Flash said "huh, so many people were knocked out today, hope it isn't catching."

Robin blinked, and then began to laugh, hard. Kid Flash looked at him with wide eyes, then he smiled and began to laugh himself.

* * *

_I intended to leave this on a happy note, hope I succeeded. _

_When it comes to character lines and relationships sometimes I feel I can right them and they act a bit wooden. If so I'm sincerely sorry._

_This alternate universe may come up later, but I'll give you a hint, it won't be a big part of __**this**__ story._

_One thing I noted is that while I have about 46 story alerts I only receive on average about 8 reviews per chapter. To those of you who do review, thanks a bunch. To those others who don't, please do, it doesn't have to be every chapter but I wouldn't mind the odd extra review._

_One last thing, in order to avoid cluttering up the team I decided to make Batgirl and Honorary Young Justice Member like an Honorary Titan. Sorry if that's confusing._

* * *

_Time for the mailbag:_

SuperninjaX

My bad, I meant to say love it. What I would like to know is, what is going on with skip and what happened to YJ Robin? Awesome chapter btw!

_**No worries, the Skip problem will be solved within a few chapters I believe.**_

juliet claire

This is a fun universe, pretty cool! Love the pen name btw!

_**Thanks and thanks. :)**_

Sincerely Seven

Fantastic story! I think this is the best YJ/TT crossover I've seen. I can't wait to see where you go with this-I know it'll be dramatic! I do have one suggestion though... I love how the story is both character and plot driven, and you do a great job with giving all the members a fair share in the spotlight... except Wally. It seems like you write him almost critically-he hasn't really done a single "nice" (I'm using this as a general term for lack of a better term) thing in the entire fic. So far, he's only complained, acted foolishly, and gotten himself into trouble. Not that he doesn't do that, but I do feel like you've neglected writing his character with any of his positive traits. He's lacking the quirk and charm that balances his character out.

The other thing about him is that he's arguably YJ Robin's best friend. I think it's good that you've written him recognizing some of the oddities about Robin and thinking over it, but those sections seem to be very limited. I can't help but think that with Wally's character, being both so gung-ho and lively, and sensing something is "wrong" with Robin since suddenly, the familiarity between them is gone (maybe he'd think that something is really bothering his friend, and his current seriousness is a result of feeling down) I think he'd be taking a lot more initiative in trying to figure that out why that is, probably by trying to hang out and bond with Robin (probably to "cheer him up") and if that wouldn't get him to open up, he might even try a more direct approach by pulling him aside to seriously ask him.

The story is great, and Robin's talk with Superboy was really just amazing, but I do think that if Wally was fleshed out more in your story, there would be a lot more drama and even necessity for TT Robin to not accidentally blow his cover due to a suspicious team mate. Again, thanks for the great work! I'm watching this and I can't wait for the next update!

_**Believe it or not, you singlehandedly inspired this very chapters. I realize that perhaps I've been a bit lazy and neglected to write Wally with any redeeming traits. I'll try to balance it out now. This entire chapter was born from reading your review.**_

KaliAnn

That memory dream and the one about the chasm are important to Robin's mindset, but I think I know what the last dreams about. Its easier to contact a person in dreams because their barriers are down. I hope the Titans get in touch with him. Okay I'm glad Batgirl joined and that Robin's on the level with Artemis I think she'll trust him more and open up. The mission was handled very well except for Wally and Roy needs to get a life. That invention of Cyborg's came in handy. Question if the Light does go after Robin you going to brainwash him because that would be kind of cool. P.S. If you ever need help with a chapter ping me and I'll see if I can get you unstuck.

_**Brainwash, most likely not, but we'll see. Wally shows why he's acting this way in this chapter, I hope it was good enough. Yep, I came up with Cyborg's invention while actually writing the chapter. I'll try and work more with Artemis later on.**_

Renegade

Hey this is Red Hound(its a pain in the butt having to sign in constantly) It was killing me the wait for this next chapter! Thank you so much!

_**I hope this wasn't too long of a wait. Hope you like it. :)**_

Riqis Inna Sunja

That was great! i really like the dreams! i keep wondering about whats going on with skip.

_**Both the dreams and Skip are quite important but Skip will be solved much earlier on.**_

Evil Soul

Hey, so because I'm such a great guy I'm going to review both chapters 11 and 12.

With chapter 11, I have got to say, well done. I loved how you had TT-Robin reacting to the stuff from the episode - his protectiveness of Superboy, bringing in Batgirl to help handle Ivo, ect. The fight with Black Canary was nicely done. Given TT-Robin has trained with his Batman, Slade and the True Master, I think that he could have won easily if he had been in his own body and Blak Canary didn't use her powers, so having their fight end in a tie was really the best way to go.

Skip's storyline is rather interesting as well. Are you going to have evolve into something like Dubblex or something else?

Chapter 12 - well, first off, Roy. Not entirely sure he would act like that towards Robin, considering that in the comics they're best friends and according to the YJ cartoon wiki the first two sidekicks were Robin first and Speedy second a year later. With both of them lacking powers, and the next sidekicks not appearing until Robin been operating for two years, Speedy just one year, I would think that they had bonded somewhat. That said, Roy is something of a hot head, and people say things that they don't always mean when they're angry. Looking forward to seeing how you develop this further.

Artemis. I liked the way you had Batman inform Robin about her and who she is without actually telling us. That could easily have disagreed with something that happens in the show later, making it difficult for you to keep mostly to what actually happens. Hinting that Robin knows was certainly the best way to go. Would have liked to see the relationship between her and Robin devoloped more, what with Robin not only being the leader but also the only person on the team who knows about her past - whatever that is.

The Nanotech Grenade was an interesting idea, one you did well. I would like to see if your going to have Robin modify the costume he wears from YJ version to the TT version. Given all the other changes he's made (leadership, battle abilities, technology used (jetpack and bike), ect.) it probably wouldn't be seen as out of character.

Not sure about adding Batgirl to the team. Don't get me wrong, I love Babs, but the team already has a bat in Robin and a female character with no powers in Artemis. Not quite sure what her role could be, and besides, the team already has six members. You don't want to have so many characters that they all start to look alike because you just can't develop them all as individuals. Will be interesting to see where you take her story though.

Atracting Slade's interest as a possible apprentice again. Man, Robin just can't get away from the guy even in a different dimension. Still he's better prepared this time, and he's got Batman and the League as backup. Should be interesting.

Again, I've noticed that you have a few spelling and grammer errors in the past two chapters. Nothing major, most people wouldn't notice, and most of those who do don't care as the story is still good and still readable. However, if you want to work on eliminating those, I suggest getting someone besides your self to read through the completed chapters before you post them, maybe a beta reader or whatever. Often, other people catch mistakes we make when we don't notice because we are busy seeing what we think we've written instead of what is actually there. Hope this helps you become a better writer than you already are.

Question for you. Are the only people on the team who don's know who Robin is under the mask Aqualad and Artemis? I know that according to the show Kid Flash knows, and in your story I recall a few chapters ago you ended with most of the team spending the night at Wayne Manor, but I can't remember if Aqualad was present for that.

I'm very flattered you think of me as on of the critique people for your chapters. Don't know if I mentioned this to you before, but normally the most I do with regards to stories I enjoy is addd them to my favourites list and/or review every few chapters, if that. I think this story might be the first time I've tried to review a story every chapter as it gets updated. In fact, I check to see if this story has been updated with a new chapter most days. I enjoy the story that much.

Good luck with the Technical School, and I hope to see a new chapter up before to long. Take care. Later.

_**Well, I'm not sure about KF knowing Robin's secret identity so I've kinda deliberately skirted around that. I didn't see anything in the show that clued me in that he knew that Robin was Dick Grayson. Correct, Aqualad and Artemis don't know Robin's secret identity. **_

_**One thing about the Artemis's past. I'm not planning on going beyond the 9-10 episodes already out, I am aware that new ones will be coming but the plot of this story was based around the first 9 episodes. I may include the 10nth but to fit in the story it would have to come before the 9nth. Once I run through the episodes, things kick it into high gear, also a little hint, the Bialya mission will have great importance.**_

_**Upon examining my adding Batgirl to the team I decided to avoid the clutter issue by making her an honorary member. Hope you like the solution to the problem.**_

_**Next chapter as the filler will probably bring up the Slade issue again, Slade certainly is noting Robin as a very interesting young boy.**_

_**Robin's physical aptitude increases even further. He can now knock his counterpart around with ease. I'll try to handle Artemis more to flesh out her character.**_

_**If I include episode 10 it may by used to resolve the tensions between Robin and Roy as well as advancing the plot.**_

_**Thanks for the advice I hold it in extremely high regards.**_

* * *

_Next chapter will feature Gotham prominently and also, Slade's making another appearance. Just a little teaser._

_Good Day and God Bless :)_

_Sincerely, LordGodsServant_


	14. Recruitment Drive

_This chapter isn't nearly as dark as I originally intended it to be, all that comes in the next chapter._

_And why is it there is always something that puts me on pins and needles about how much people are going to like the chapter. This time it's the length and the content. Sorry if this is boring or too short._

* * *

Gotham was asleep.

Relatively speaking that is.

Some call New York "the city that never sleeps." Many also give that title to Gotham. Few however are aware of how much deadly truth there is to that saying.

While crime may be perpetrated during the day, while criminals may walk the backalleys of the city as easily as a walk in the park, while an occasional crime boss may get powerful enough not to hide his works at all during the day, nobody but those who truly understand the city understand that it is at night that Gotham truly comes alive.

Gotham herself is a nocturnal animal. Criminals who don't dare show their faces during the day, they walk without fear in the darkness that shrouds the city. Acts of the most horrific type, violence, rape, drugs, all come to their fullest in the dark of the night.

The good people of Gotham, those who are unfortunate enough to have to spent their lives in the dark, oppressive city, or those who love the city in spite of all its flaws, they all know that unless a situation calls for desperate measures, their only hope is barricade themselves in their homes and to never leave until the dawn.

Unfortunately, many times the situation does warrant a person to leave.

Once you are out on the streets you are being watched.

You can look around and whenever you walk down a street, groups of people will watch you until you go out of sight. Oftentimes they are part of one of the many gangs that pervade the city. Or perhaps they're just some random Joe like you who doesn't know who to watch, because anyone could be a criminal, a mugger, or a cold-blooded killer.

Even worse is when you know that one of the villains is watching you. The gruesome results of the decaying city will at times watch the common people who are driven to leave their homes and to tread the dangerous nightlife of Gotham alone. All are horrible, many are unpredictable.

With Two-Face, you have a 50/50 chance of dying on the spot.

With Penguin, mess with his business and he'll hunt you down.

With Scarecrow, all of your worst nightmares can come true.

And worst of all, with Joker, you never know what to expect. You don't know if he'll shoot you on the spot, spray you with acid, or even horribly mutilate you.

All the stares of the clans of Gotham are one's you wish to avoid.

* * *

The man in the dark smiled as he watched the news trickle in. It had all been set up, tonight Robin would be rousted out of his nest the moment he heard the news. The gathering would further the plans of the Light, even if the villains were all recaptured they could easily break them out again. Across the world, three of the world powers that were in a state of political change were being manipulated to fall under their power. Their good friend Mr. Luthor was taking care of that. Soon Australia, China, and Mexico would fall under the Power of the Light. Rhelasia would have to come next. Luthor already held great influence there. After that it would be a simple thing to assassinate the President and install the man who would strike a truce with the enemy in the US's darkest hour. Oh yes, this plan involved a lot of Luthor and had been years in the making, but it was coming to fruition and soon the world would fall under the Light.

And if the President and the other Government members who needed to be removed should somehow survive, then the very thought of all the countries ready to invade should be incentive enough for them to surrender. The Light's victory would be almost assured/

But they hadn't won yet. They still needed to be on their guard, for the Justice League would be there to appose them. But, with any luck they would be removed even before the assassination stage of the plan was enacted.

The smile vanished from his face. One thing bothered him still. He had always prided himself on being able to get what he wanted. But for all his power, riches, and talent, things many men and women would kill for, he still lacked one thing that he wanted a family.

Once he'd had a wife, and he had three children, a two sons and a daughter. But all due to a cruel incident that took his youngest son's voice away led his wife to hate him. She ran with his young daughter and youngest son, and escaped even from him. And his oldest son died as he pursued life as a mercenary.

He wanted someone to teach his skills. He wanted someone to who would look up to him, eventually. He wanted someone who would look at him, and whom he could call, son.

And right now . . . he was considering . . . Robin.

* * *

Robin sat in front of the Bat-Computer, watching a news report. It was late morning and he was familiarizing himself with foreign countries once again. In China several people in the Government were competing for the leadership position. The interesting thing was that Lex Luthor was publicly endorsing one of them. Even with that speech that the US Senator had given on new corruptions within Luthor's company his word still carried a lot of influence. And he was exerting every last bit of it to get his person into office.

Australia was also up for political change. Luthor's candidate was taking the position by storm, almost everybody liked her.

The Confederation of African countries was new to Robin; it hadn't existed in his world. It seemed that after a war with Bialya a decade ago, Africa had almost been conquered. Only US interference and a uniting of practically all the African Countries had staved off complete conquest. Bialya had agreed to a truce but in recent years it had begun to get rowdy again, the US was watching it closely. In the wake of the war, the Most of the African countries had unified rather like the US to form the Confederation of Africa. However, it seemed to be bogged down in corruption and too many politicians. Deciding anything seemed to take forever.

And as luck would have it, Mexico was also going through a reelection stage and the prevailing candidate was being endorsed by, you guessed it, Lex Luthor. Robin wondered if the League was as uneasy about this as he was.

Robin watched a news feed as Lex Luthor made a speech regarding his candidate in China. In Mexico he was endorsing removing the drug cartels, promising to improve Mexico greatly.

Robin left the news feed on and walked over to a table. On the table was a small baby-sized robot that if it was fully put together, would resemble a Mechanical Monkey. Robin had had a good deal of experience with combat robotics. He had kept more Sladebots than he could count and had dismantled many of them to discover their secrets. He was following that same practice with the robots he'd recovered from Ivo.

He worked on the robot for several hours, learning more about it with each passing minute.

As he worked he reflected on the condition of Gotham. Most, if not all, of the major villains were locked up in Arkham Asylum and so were a lot of small time crooks. Batman had done a thorough cleaning up before he'd left to go on a major mission with most of the Justice League. Barbara had a lot of homework piled on so Batman had asked Robin to look after Gotham while he was gone. Robin had agreed.

Apart from a few robberies that Robin had thwarted Gotham had been mostly quiet and yet Robin felt some sort of tension brewing inside of him. He felt like something big was going to go down soon and he'd better be ready.

After he was done, he put the robot away and had a look at the cameras that were set up all over Gotham. It was all quiet as far as he could see. He sighed in partial boredom, and then on a whim he pulled up the information on Cyborg and Beast Boy.

Cyborg was still living in Jump City. Nothing had really changed with him, he ran a small auto-shop to make a living. He used a holographic projection to make it seem like he was normal and worked under his real name Victor Stone.

Robin then pulled up Beast Boy's information and his eyebrows shot up, there was an update. Apparently Beast Boy had left the Doom Patrol. The Doom Patrol's had just completed a mission and in the wake of it Beast Boy had quit. In his last known location he was headed towards Jump City. The thought crept in that perhaps he could recruit Beast Boy; he was a valued addition for his versatility.

Raven and Starfire however still remained AWOL. Starfire hadn't fallen to Earth yet, or never would in this universe and Raven, if she even left Azarath, remained off the grid. Robin ran checks and found that some of the Honorary Titans could be found, but only a few. The Titan's had recruited a large number of previously unknown or not very well known heroes. Most of the attention had been focused on the more mainstream heroes like Superman and Wonder Woman.

Robin wondered if he was doing the right thing. He reflected that in his own way, he was building his own Teen Titans here. He wondered what the League thought of his actions, back in his universe the League and the Titan's really hadn't gotten along that well. Mostly because they were autonomous but Robin wondered if he could make the Young Justice work while still working under Batman.

Robin also wondered how the news would go if it ever got out that he wasn't the original Robin from this universe. His guess was that it would hit the fan pretty hard with the League if they found out that he had been the Leader of the Titans. In the worse case they might think he was deliberately trying to get the younger generation of heroes to sever connections with the League.

Nevertheless, Robin still would offer honorary membership to anyone who wanted it within reason. Then an idea struck Robin and he grinned. He would enjoy executing the idea immensely.

* * *

Rift sat in his little prison cell in Belle Reve. He'd been sent here ever since his failed attempt at a new life in the other universe. He was sharing a room with the Brick, a criminal boss who'd been arrested by Red Arrow and the Young Justice. He hated it. The cell doors opened and he walked out with Brick for lunch.

He sat by himself in the lunchroom. Nobody wanted to sit by him, all his life nobody had ever wanted to sit by him. Most people called him by his criminal name but his real name was Jacob Johnson.

Back when he was a kid his mom and dad had been crime syndicate leaders. They left him alone for the most part, paying for his education and such. But when their cover as simple wealthy individuals like Lex Luthor or Bruce Wayne had been blown they'd tried to fight their way out of arrest by the Justice Society. They died.

Jacob was given to foster homes then, but the damage was done, everyone knew him as the son of two criminals. He never made many friends. He did well in school, he was a genius really, but nobody was really willing to give him a job based on his talents. Any job he got was a bad one. He hated it; he had a reputation wherever he went. People treated him like a criminal even though he'd never robbed so much as a vending machine.

Finally he'd had enough and became a criminal himself. But if he was going to be a criminal then he wanted to be a part of the baddest ones of all. Then he got the idea of the alternate universe. After months of feverish study in the basement of his apartment he'd finally unlocked the secrets to crossing to other universes, and as luck would have it, the universe "right next door" as it were, was one where most of the roles were reversed and the villains practically reigned supreme. He'd made it a goal to get there.

But then Robin caught wind of his plan, he'd made it a point to only rob a place when he couldn't make it himself with his own resources. Robin and Kid Flash had cut his plans to pieces and now here he was, in Belle Reve, eat mashed potatoes all alone. Well at least he qualified to get here so that was something, though he was seriously considering a career change.

He heard someone stomp up behind him and heard and inmate say in a sneering voice "I finished my food, but I'm still hungry."

"Yeah, go dig for a bone or something."

Next second Rift had been smacked aside as the inmate sat down to his food. Rift stood up and with a shout of anger leapt back at the bully. He had had enough of people thinking he was weak and completely useless.

He was able to land a few punches but then his collar activated and he fell back. Each inmate wore a collar around their necks that served a double purpose as a power inhibitor and as a crowd control weapon. Rift was let off with a warning.

But the punishment wasn't done. When he got back to his cell Brick was waiting for him.

"That guy you attacked was part of my gang . . . I don't appreciate people attacking my people."

Rift's eyes widened and the others all down the cell block could hear his shrieks of pain and the loud sound of fist and feet pummeling someone.

* * *

Robin ran across the rooftop, reveling in the sense of familiarity, even if his team wasn't here. He leapt across a gap and landed with a roll. Then he straightened up and looked out over Jump City's bay.

The small island was there, but it had nothing built on it. Robin wondered if his little project there would be done quickly. Then he turned and dropped into and alleyway. He walked down it and saw a back door leading into a rather large building. He picked the lock and walked in.

He observed the auto-shop and the various cars that were in there. Obviously the shop was closed but it was also obvious that there was a lot of business going on. Robin looked at one car and had to suppress a grin, it was almost an exact replica of the T-Car except that it looked more normal.

"Hey! Who's there!"

A shout rang out and Robin's heart skipped a beat because he hadn't heard that voice in a long while. He turned around to see a large well built black 18-year-old who currently had his arms in fist and was looking at Robin with suspicion.

Robin held up his arms "calm down, I'm not here to fight, just make an offer."

Cyborg lowered his hands but his face got and annoyed look on it "look if this is about another offer to join the Justice League then count me out. I already go Batman's offer and I'm just fine here working as a hero in Jump City."

Robin smirked "I'm not here representing the Justice League, I'm here representing the Young Justice."

Now Cyborg looked confused "you lost me."

"A group of younger heroes who are organized to take-"

"Whatever, still is affiliated with the Justice League."

"I wasn't asking you to become a full time member, just an honorary member."

Cyborg looked pensive, then he asked "what exactly does that involve."

"Simple really. Your free to do what you want for the most part but I'll give you a communicator so we can call each other for help if we need to. We get to share information on villains and in general, make each other's jobs that much easier."

Cyborg thought about it as Robin had another look around the room. He was just looking behind a car when he saw something dash underneath the car . . . a green something.

Quickly he leaned down and looked underneath it and saw a green squirrel staring back at him. Robin smiled and said "you can come out . . . Beast Boy."

The Squirrel crept out from the beneath the car and morphed back into a teen who was green all over and in a purple and black costume.

"Awwww, I can't believe I let you find me. I mean" he stiffened up and gave a salute "Ex-Doom Patrol member Beast Boy sir!"

"You don't have to call me sir."

"Well let me just say that it's an honor to meet you sir!"

Robin grinned wider, it was really refreshing to see his old friend again, even if it wasn't really them.

"Well then Beast Boy, how much of my conversation with Cyborg did you hear?"

"Uh . . . All of it sir."

"Then how would you like to become an honorary member of the Young Justice?"

Beast Boy's eyes bugged out and he looked like he might faint. He managed to gasp out "ye . . . ye . . . yes p-p-please."

Robin reached into his pocket and pulled out a communicator stamped with the signature "YJ" on it. It was virtually the same as a Titan's communicator except for the different letter.

Robin turned back to Cyborg who was looking a bit weirded out by the sudden appearance of Beast Boy but he shook his head and said "sure, fine. It sounds reasonable enough and I can quit if I don't like it. I'll try it out."

Robin grinned and handed him a communicator. Then he turned back to Beast Boy.

"Do you have a place to stay?"

"Not really, I've been camping out in alleyways."

"Well that presents a problem as how we're going to house you."

He heard Cyborg clear his throat and everyone turned back to look at him.

"Well I guess he could . . . I don't know . . . stick here with me."

"Dude that would be sweet. I'd totally earn my keep. Hey, have you ever played Super Smash Monkey's 5?"

"Aw yeah, I'm one of the top players on that game!"

"Betcha I could beat you!"

"Your on!"

Robin felt nostalgic as he watched Beast Boy and Cyborg arguing over the merits of the game. He cleared his throat and said "okay, well I'll call you when I need you."

"See ya later."

"Bye Rob!"

Robin walked back out into the alleyway. It was on his way back to the teleporter that he first noticed it. A bit of a cold feeling, oddly familiar and yet different. He came to realize from several clues that he was being followed. Then he recognized the feeling with a shock.

He walked into another long alleyway and stopped once he was extremely far in.

"I know your there, you can stop following me."

Silence reigned for about 30 seconds and Robin wondered if she would show at all, then a pale girl with purple hair dressed in a blue cape and a black leotard stepped out into the limelight.

"Hello, introductions are in order it seems. I'm Robin and you would be?"

"Raven."

"Right, Raven. Now, why were you following me?"

Raven looked as if she highly doubted he was going to believe her "you have a sort of, feel to you. It's like I can feel myself inside you, but then again it feels completely alien."

Robin nodded, realizing she must be referring to the bond he'd shared with his Raven. Slade had once used a chemical agent to infiltrate his central nervous system and made him see hallucinations. Raven had had to enter his mind to try and tell him it wasn't real but she'd failed. Luckily Robin had been cured but afterwards he asked Raven to keep the link readily available. Thus he had a bond with her that lay dormant most of the time but was able to be called upon at a moments notice.

"I've had a lot of experience with various things including magic, maybe that's it."

"Maybe" said Raven as her eyes narrowed.

"Are you from around here?"

"No, I come from another world called Azarath in fact."

"Oh really, where?"

"Why are you so interested?"

"I'm a curious guy."

Raven regarded him with raised eyebrows. Then Robin, not willing to waste the opportunity, said "so, do you have any powers."

"Yes" Raven said slowly.

"Cool, I was wondering if you'd like to join as an honorary member of the Young Justice."

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Raven asked suspiciously.

Robin shrugged "I try not to judge on appearances. I'm recruiting for the team as you might have noticed and you have powers. Plus, I get the certain feeling that your not a villain."

Raven regarded the Boy Wonder with calculating eyes, he was very weird. He was offering her a position within the Young Justice while apparently knowing next to nothing about her. She didn't know what to think.

"Give me the communicator and I'll think about it."

Robin nodded, contented with the answer, he should've known Raven would be a tough sell. He handed over the communicator and then they nodded to each other as they walked off.

Robin looked up in the sky and thought with a stab of pain, that the only thing missing from this trip was Stafire. He missed her so much.

* * *

Back in the cave Megan was making some cookies. She also was looking at the cocoon that Skip was currently in. It was weird because he was now reliving his times with the Young Justice. The cocoon had also swelled from being the size of a volleyball to now being about ¾'s as tall as Megan herself.

Megan turned around to get the chocolate chips when she heard something. She whirled back to stare at the cocoon and saw that cracks were beginning to form. She walked tentatively forward to see and suddenly the cracks widened and something about ¾ of Megan's height fell out and onto the table. A good deal of slime came with.

Megan watched it shake it's head and she said in a cautious voice "Skip?"

"_I think so."_

Megan gasped as she heard Skip's voice in her head. She couldn't believe how much he'd changed.

* * *

Robin was back in the Batcave and was adding a file to it about Raven. The sun had just set.

Then suddenly, alarms blared and Robin shot up in his seat and hit the computer screen's camera function. On the feeds that came up he saw a terrible sight. People were rushing through the streets. Normally this might be cause for curiosity, but the thing that made it a cause for alarm was the fact that half of them were dressed in orange prison outfits and Robin could recognize people from Batman's Rogue's Gallery, Two-Face, Mr. Freeze, and the Joker, all running freely on the streets.

There had been a mass breakout from Arkham Asylum. And all of it's denizens were now roaming through Gotham, in the Dark of the Night.

* * *

_I love cliffhangers. At least when I'm the one doing it lol. Anyway, no action here but don't worry, I will more than make up for it in the next chapter. This is more of a set up for the next chapter. _

_I am also going to take a more serious approach on the next chapter to really try and bring out the position that Batman and even Robin are in and the horrific situation that Gotham is._

_Skip's appearance will be explained next chapter._

_Funny thing. The end of this chapter was originally going to be the beginning but I decided that it would more fit as the cliffhanger and set-up for the next chapter._

_Also, on the subject of the new YJ episodes, if they are going to be included (I'm consider the latest one, set in the prison that Rift's detained in) they have to occur before "Bereft" because the story I have planned takes off into my own territory from there._

_Just a little heads up that I may bend the dates a bit._

* * *

_Now, some political information must be made clear. I will list some countries and their information:_

_Markovia:_

_This is Terra's home country. Just like Bialya it is a made up country in the DC universe. In this fic it stretches along the Mediteranean all the way from Italy to Greece. It is moderately large._

_Bialya: _

_Not much description required. A decade ago it began a war of aggression that almost completely conquered Africa. It lost as the countries united and the US intervened but before it was taken over it agreed to a truce. It has remained a hot spot for anti-US activity ranging from endorsing terrorism publicly and otherwise, to anti-US campaigns in the media. The leaders there also have a firm position against the Justice League and refer to it by the slur of "The USA's Lapdog."_

_Russia: _

_In the wake of the end of the Cold War, much leftover projects were forgotten, Red Star being the most prominent example. Reforms were attempted to remake the country into a democracy and officially it worked. However, many people know that it is a Democracy only in name and the current "President" is more of a king than anything else. The US is very wary of them and, if Russia is put in a situation where it is at the US's mercy, they will enact great and decisive political reform in order to avoid the same mistakes as at the end of the Cold War._

_Confederation of African Countries:_

_In the wake of Bialya's invasion most of the African Countries banded together to form this Confederation. However it from its birth has been riddled with corruption. The politicians who can be described as "good" know that the system is in desperate need of a great overhaul, reduce the amount of politicians so things don't take so long and halt the corruption. But they are suppressed._

* * *

_**Now for the Mailbag:**_

Wonderfulakari

Oh please tell me we get to see what mischief the other Grayson is up too!

I does make sense that robin would be more skilled, after all he's had to live on his own without adult supervision and has had experiences the other robin is not used to. He is also more disciplined and perhaps even a bit older.

I'm starting not to like TT Robin.

Okay I'm getting annoyed at Robin what an over-dramatic fun-sucker.

_**Sorry, to be explained later.**_

_**That is what I'm trying to stress in this fic, TT-Robin is much more experienced at this than the other YJ members.**_

_**Well, I hope you like this chapter better, sorry you don't like this version of Robin.**_

SuperninjaX

At first I thought that they were going to be teleported to the TT world! Hmm, so...exactly what DID happen to YJ robin? Or are you avoiding that question on purpose? Lol

_**No such luck. And yes, for the umpteenth time I am not going to answer that question outside the fic. Rest assured the answer will come.**_

KaliAnn

You know I went to dinner thinking I hope he updates and you did! This was a very eye opening chapter in more ways then one. Robin finally was conscious of Kid's feelings and how damaged their relationship was. I think he'll try to be a better friend now. I liked the team up with Red Hood and the fight you wrote with the Junior Injustice Syndicate. You clearly showed how there were two sides to a person's personality. I think you made the right call making Batgirl an honorary member. Love that J'onn approves of his niece's relationship. Lastly that was a great personal sacrifice on Robin's part to stop Rift. I hope the next filler is just as thrilling.

_**Robin didn't get a chance to make it up to KF this chapter but yes, they both are now off to a fresh clean start.**_

_**Now we have some familiar faces serving as honorary members, and most likely in the nick of time.**_

Riqis Inna Sunja

Single most best TT/YJ crossover EVER! Amazing, i loved it! you do such a great job with all the characters! the alternate universe thing was just AWESOME! I feel like a giddy little girl when i see that you have updated your story :D! with that being said, i cant wait for the next chapter! great job and good luck!

_**Aw, thanks. I hope you like this one even though it's more like a lead-up to the next chapter.**_

ShadowEntity

Ohhhhh, I love this story! Your characters are amazingly in character and well rounded!

I really want to know if Robin ever figures stuff out about the Cyborg and Beast Boy from the YJ universe. That little detail just holds so much potential! :)

As some grammatical advice, it would be better to instead of writing something like this: "Robin stood up and said "I might be away for a day or so Alfred."" to add a comma after "said" and before the name. When someone is talking to another person, their name is always after a comma. To instead write: "Robin stood up and said(,) "I might be away for a day or so(,) Alfred.""

Wondeful story! I look foward to the next update, shich is hopefully soon!

_**Ask and you shall receive. Robin has now gained Beast Boy, Cyborg, and even possible Raven as honorary members. Starfire however remains illusive. **_

_**Thanks for the advice.**_

Renegade

I wish I was this good at writing stories. Sadly I lack in the creativity and awesomeness department.

_**Oh come on you can do it. I actually don't consider myself to be all that good of the writer I'm sure that I can be outclassed a hundred times over by many other writers on this site.**_

Evil Soul

Well, I've got to say this chapter was done very nicely indeed. A bit on the short side for my tastes, but I absolutely loved the character development Dick and Wally. The tension between the two has been there for a while and it's nice to see your starting to advance that storyline a little further. I think you timed it well, as TT-Robin can be a little difficult with regards to relationships - I attribute that to his Batman, being a teenager, and being almost solely responible for the wellfare of at least four other teenagers in his reality (I say four because I'm not sure to what extent he provides for titans outside the core team). Having him not dealing with the problems between himself and Wally, and not even realising what the problem was exactly fits.

I also enjoyed the parts with the alternate universe and the device which aloud for travel between dimensions. I'd have liked to seen those expanded upon a bit further, more in depth - perhaps later chapters will do so?

Also, while it has been a while since I read the earlier chapters, I seem to recall you made reference to the Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths animated movie. I've gotten that on Blu-ray, along with a few other DC animated films (haven't seen them all yet, nor do I have them all), but it is awesome. Definitely one of the better DC animated films I've watched, so I can see why you included it.

Anyway, looking forward to the next chapter - especially Slade, whom I hope will interact with Robin some more. I'm also wondering if your planning on Slade figuring out Robin is from another dimension before anyone else. He's certainly intelligent enough to do so. Just have look at old video footage of the boy wonder and he'll realise something has changed. Hope your well.

_**Sorry if this one's a bit short, I hope to make that up in the next one.**_

_**Robin is more like Batman than he likes to admit and if there's one thing Batman's had trouble on, its building relationships with people. Robin is used to being responsible for the Titans but that requires their cooperation, thus Wally was especially frustrating to him.**_

_**Rest assured that I didn't put that alternate universe in there just for kicks, I will revisit that but not in this story arc (by that I mean the plot with the Light). **_

_**Perhap a sequel once this story is over ;)**_

_**The next chapter will deal much more heavily with Robin and Slade.**_

_**I'm glad you watched the movie, I agree that it was good. Fact is that a lot of the animated movies DC has been producing recently have been awesome, try "Batman: Under the Red Hood" if you haven't seen it yet, it's an awesome movie.**_

Sincerely Seven

_**No offense but your reviews were so long so I'm not going to put them in, just my responses. **_

"_**Ahem" On the subjects of Robin's identity, look at it this way, If I don't mention that Wally knows that Robin is Dick Grayson then consider it not true. If I do mention it, it is true, there, problem solved.**_

_**Thank you for your kind comments, I hope you enjoyed the little chapter dedicated to you. **_

_**Oh, and if at any point you feel that I'm overstepping it and putting to many "mini-stories" in, feel free to point it out.**_


	15. In the Dark of the Knight Part 1

_**WARNING:**__**In this chapter, there will be gritty and graphic scenes, just warning you. If you are squeamish I recommend a high amount of caution before reading this part. This story arc is the most serious one I have written thus far. Partially it is to showcase Gotham as the city that it is.**_

_Another warning, this may also hold the record so far as my longest chapter._

* * *

Ah what a glorious night, perfect for stargazing, football games, and of course, bank robbing.

Which was what the Riddler was currently doing. He hummed as he skipped around and egged his men on. Batman was off on a large mission with practically all the League and they had the city all to themselves. The Riddler could think of nothing that could spoil his good mood. That is until he heard the swoosh of a cape and saw a dark figure moving outside.

It couldn't be Batman, Batman was still of on some alien planet trying to defeat some alien menace or something like that. Then the Riddler noticed that the figure was much too small to be Batman. He grinned as the figure burst through the window and his eyes beheld, Robin.

"Ah, Robin. Riddle me this, riddle me that, who wants to be a big black Bat?"

Robin ignored him and charged. The Riddler's henchmen surged forward and attacked Robin who had ignited a Bo Staff.

Robin slammed the staff into the first henchman's head. He then regarded the others carefully as they circled each other. 3 charged and Robin's staff lashed out and two of them fell back. The third however, continued on and, after taking a flying leap, pinned Robin to the ground. Robin twisted until he could kick the man off of him but as he scrambled up another guy grabbed his left arm. The man was subsequently fed a good helping of staff to the face but in the time it took to do that, two more men had grabbed ahold of Robin.

Robin tried to fight them all off but they eventually overbore him and held him down. One man, grinning and cracking his knuckles, prepared himself to pummel Robin. Robin glared at him defiantly.

The henchman raised his arm to swing but at that precise moment a gunshot rang out. The man who had been about to hit Robin in the gut stumbled back, his hand clutching his shoulder from which blood was beginning to seep from a bullet wound.

The men loosened their grip to look around and that was all that Robin needed. He pulled his hands up and slammed the heads of two of the men together. He then quickly slammed his fists into the faces of the two holding his feet and backed away from the remaining henchmen.

Robin grabbed his staff and once more laid into the henchmen. But this time he was aid by someone who was standing at the door and was using a pistol in each hand to shoot the goons in the arms or legs.

After all the goons were down and groaning Robin turned to the man.

"Thanks for the assist, can I get your name?"

The man was obviously a cop. He had the cop uniform on with a badge marking him as deputy Commissioner no less, but in place of the usual Policeman's cap was a gray and rather outdated Fedora.

The man held out a hand and smile "name's Kyle Bruleg 2nd in command to Commissioner Gordon. You probably don't know me but Batman does. Worked with him several times before."

Robin was about to respond when suddenly he grabbed Kyle and pulled him towards himself and out of the reach of a long vine that had just about been ready to grab his leg.

They both stumbled back and then, seeing that the door was being covered by vegetation, they both leapt out of the window. They landed on the ground and beheld the source of the vegetable invaders.

In one of the parks, coincidentally right next to the bank it was usually a nice well-mowed area with a couple trees. Now, it was a jungle, a literal jungle, a tangled mess of thorns woven into thickets, vines and giant carnivorous plants.

Then what looked like a Venus Fly-Trap suddenly opened up its mouth and lunged at them. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but considering that this time its mouth was roughly the size of a bus, that called for some concern. Robin and Kyle both leapt aside and Kyle's guns were out in an instant, firing away at the plant. It got hit and what looked like green blood began dripping out. This however, was a huge mistake.

As soon as the giant Venus Fly-Trap began bleeding the whole forest, which had been doing nothing but consolidating control over the park, turned its attention onto them. Vines began snaking their way as well as numerous other carnivorous plants trying to have them for dinner.

Robin grabbed Kyle, whose legs had been snared instantly by vines and tugged him back. Finally, the vines let up and Robin and Kyle were able to run back out of range of the forest of mayhem. Once they had a chance to catch their breath Kyle chuckled and said "if anyone tries to shove one of those "save the Rainforest" ads in my face again I'm gonna sock him right there and then."

Robin smiled and chuckled himself, and then his face grew serious.

"How did this happen?" Robin asked as he looked at Kyle. Kyle shrugged "there wasn't time to find out, Jim, Commissioner Gordon to you, just told us to call in everyone and that every criminal we know of had escaped from Arkham."

At that moment they flattened against the wall as a group of people ran past the alleyway they were in. After they were gone Kyle whispered "we can't stay here, we should head towards the main Police Station, that's where the most safety will be."

"I can't let the villains run amok!" Robin protested.

Kyle tried to placate him "you can't beat every villain at the same time, especially when their out in force like this. We need to regroup with the rest of the cops and then we can go after the criminals in force."

Robin considered this. Deep down he knew Kyle was right but there was a part of him that urged him to go it alone, that he could solve the situation by himself.

He ignored it, that little voice had gotten him into enough hot water with Slade.

"Alright, let's move."

The two defenders of Gotham moved out.

* * *

Back at Belle Reve, Jacob (Rift) was sore. He had taken a large beating from the Brick and now he was limping along with his lunch tray.

He sat down and began eating as fast as he could to avoid anyone trying to muscle his food away from him again. After he was done eating in record time he turned in his tray and got out a pencil and paper. He'd been issued this on good behavior; it had to be checked each night to make sure he wasn't drawing up some sort of plan.

No, this time he was getting into writing. He loved writing and had always wanted to be a writer. Unfortunately everyone always assumed his stories would've consisted of "a terrorists manual to building weapons of mass destruction" or something like that. He hated how everyone had always been predisposed to think of him as having criminal tendencies. And now that he'd actually tried to be a villain, and failed, people were predisposed to think that even more.

As he wrote he mused that a career change would really be good. Maybe once he got out he could turn this in to be published. Or maybe he could try something even more ambitious.

* * *

Through the streets of Gotham two shadows moved. One was dressed in a red and black costume, the other in a police uniform with a fedora on.

Robin and he flattened themselves against the wall of a building as suddenly a blood-curdling shriek rang out in the night. It was followed by several loud gunshots.

Robin forsook his cover and ran at breakneck speed for five minutes trying to find the source of the scream with Kyle trying to keep up.

Finally, Robin turned a corner and . . . his blood ran cold.

A body was lying against the side of a building. It was obviously dead but that wasn't the worst part. The skin at the mouth had been cut away to make it into some horrible facsimile of a smile and bullet holes riddled the torso. It also looked like acid had been used on one of the hands. Kyle ran around the corner and first saw Robin frozen in horror, and then he saw the body and promptly threw up in the alleyway. He then steadied himself against the side of a building and then, walked over to the body. He managed to find a blanket from a dumpster and used it to cover the horrible sight as best he could.

Robin muttered thanks but then they're hearts stopped as they heard a demented laugh sound from the alleyway behind them. Robin flipped behind a dumpster and Kyle followed his example by leaping behind another one as a spray of bullets erupted from the muzzle of a gun being toted by a man who looked like a crazy clown.

The Joker had an insane grin on his face as he peered down the alleyway, holding his AK-47 out, ready to fire again.

"He was a fun guy you know. I mean funny in that he didn't get the joke. I decided to show him the biggest joke of all then" the Joker let loose another hail of bullets but this time he deliberately let some of them hit the corpse he had already mutilated.

Rage filled Robin and he drew a birdarang. But before he could throw Kyle reached around the corner and fired two shots.

The shots sailed at him but unfortunately they only nicked the Joker. He cursed aloud and suddenly the insane smile was replaced by a look of intense hatred.

"You miserable little! How dare you shoot me!"

He didn't have time to say anything further as Robin leapt out from behind his dumpster and a second later, a birdarang had sunk into the gun Joker was holding, effectively ruining it.

Smoke suddenly sprung up as Robin threw some smoke bombs on the ground. He and Kyle made a quick exit as Joker flailed about in the smoke. When the smoke cleared however, he saw no one. He didn't even notice the sewer entrance that had just been put back into place.

Once they were far enough into the sewers Robin clenched his fist and punched the wall, making a sound of frustration. Kyle looked concerned "what's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Robin looked at Kyle with an incredulous look "didn't you see that corpse. I failed to save that person. Worse, I let that . . . that . . . that thing defile their body for some sick twisted joke! One day I hope to be able to beat him within an inch of his life!"

"Do you ever want to kill him?" Kyle asked quietly.

Robin stopped talking. After a few minutes of thought he confessed "yes, whenever I see an example of every horrendous torment he's inflicted on this city I would love to subject him to every pain and torment that he's ever dreamed of. Then, when I've hurt him as much as possible, I would want to finally end him!"

"Why don't you?"

Robin debated the question "I can't. I made a vow to save life, not to take it. Men who killed at their pleasure were the ones that set me on this path. I can't become like them."

They heard splashing then and Robin shined a flashlight, which he'd drawn out of his utility belt, down the sewer pipe they were in.

What looked like a man mixed with a crocodile was rushing at them. Kyle fired a shot but Killer Croc dodged and it rebounded around the walls. Both Robin and Kyle took off running with Robin throwing more smoke pellets on the ground.

Croc was gaining on them. Suddenly Robin turned and slid under Croc's grasping hands and sent his foot straight into the criminal's groin.

Croc gasped as if all the air had been forced out of him and next second found Robin's fist slamming into his face. Before he could do anything else, Robin had wrapped a rope around him, leaving him struggling in the water.

Neither Kyle nor Robin could carry Croc so they were forced to leave him. They found an exit and climbed out of the sewer. The minute Robin was visible someone shouted "HEY IT'S THE BAT'S BRAT, SOMEONE GRAB HIM!"

A gang of about 20 people rushed at them and Robin drew his staff while Kyle drew his pistols. Thwacks and shots could be heard and 5 seconds later, the people were all lying in the street, either groaning at bruises or grimacing in pain at non-lethal bullet wounds.

Wasting no time, Robin and Kyle got out of the lime light as around 40 people were starting to gather to try and bring them down.

They ran down another dark alleyway and Robin commented "you're pretty good with those pistols."

"Yeah, I've had a lot of practice with precise shooting. That's one of the reasons I'm able to make non-lethal shots."

"So why do you make non-lethal shots?"

"I hate killing, I never want to kill. Same reason as you or Batman I expect."

Robin nodded. They suddenly halted as they heard a sound. They looked up and three people, obviously mother, father, and son were standing at the edge of a building. The Father was obviously trying to placate someone.

"B-b-b-but s-sir y-you were locked u-up in j-jail!"

Then Robin heard the unmistakable voice of Harvey Dent, aka Two-Face.

"Don't matter, I'm still making my rounds and you owe me money. I guess it's up to the coin whether you live or not."

Robin and Kyle heard a coin flip and land and then heard Two-Face say "scarred side, sorry, you die."

Hands pushed the family over the edge and suddenly a memory flashed through Robin's mind.

"_The Flying Graysons, his mom and dad, falling . . . falling . . . falling . . ."_

A grapple shot off and the mom and dad felt themselves grabbed by someone. The boy fell by and was caught by Kyle. Robin zipped with the parents up onto the roof and Two Face was surprised to see a murderous glint in his eye. Before Two Face could order his men to attack Robin was among them, thrashing out with all four limbs. There followed the worst beatdown that that gang had seen in a long time. Finally, Robin tied them all up and left them all groaning on the roof. Robin gagged Two-Face and dragged him along, he might have some secrets that might prove useful.

Back in the alleyway, the group now consisted of Kyle, the family, Robin, and a trussed up and knocked out Two Face.

Robin was taking deep breaths to calm himself down. Then they all moved off towards the Main police station. They had been dodging through the alleyways for 5 minutes when suddenly they rushed around one corner and found themselves face to face with a group of about 10 guys. Everyone instantly got ready to fight, but then Robin and the others relaxed when they saw that the other group were cops.

"Kyle, where have you been?" one of the cops asked.

"I had to help Robin here."

"We need you back at headquarters, you should come too Robin, we need to contain the criminals as best we can."

They all got in a police car and headed towards the police station.

* * *

Gordon was looking at a map of Gotham when Robin walked in.

"Good, both of you are here. Is Batman still on that mission for the League Robin?"

Robin grimaced "yep, not just him but for all intents and purposes the whole League is on that mission. For the most part we're alone."

Gordon scowled "perfect, anyway, we need to find a way to contain the situation, Batman or no Batman."

Robin scowled but looked down at the map as Gordon began talking.

"Now they started out from Arkham. Now they're rampaging around the city on the west side. Luckily they seem to be going very leisurely about it; they haven't advanced farther than here." He point to a point on the map about a mile away from a river that cut a clean swath through the city.

"I had my men disable all bridges going out of the city so unless they plan to take a boat they can't get out."

"How did they even get out of Arkham in these amounts?"

Gordon grimaced "bribery."

"But who has the kind of dough to pull this type of thing off."

Robin answered this time "Black Mask and Penguin."

Gordon nodded "from what we can tell they bribed guards to get the major criminals out. The major criminals then broke out their lackeys and it just moved on from there. Eventually the whole prison got overrun and they then turned their attention on Gotham itself."

Robin surveyed the map then said "I have an idea."

"Oh."

Robin pointed to the river. It was a relatively large one that completely divided Gotham. Luckily the villains hadn't reached it yet.

"Draw a line there. Set up all your forces at the chokepoints of that river and from there we can contain the villains.

"But that would leave roughly half of Gotham in the villains control!" Kyle exclaimed indignantly.

Robin shrugged, "if anyone else has a better plan. If we go after them in force we have no guarantee of winning. We should save what we can and then use stealth to win back the other parts of the city."

Gordon considered the plan, and then nodded. He looked at Kyle and ordered "Bruleg, you take the south side, I'll take the north. We'll divide the forces up evenly."

Kyle nodded and rushed out of the room. Robin looked at Gordon and said "I'll set up as many safeguards as I can, then I'll see what help I can rally."

Gordon nodded and rushed out of the room. Robin ran to the nearest teleporter and set the coordinates for the Batcave.

* * *

The mastermind behind the whole breakout watched the mayhem on camera. The villains roamed freely now through around half of the city. But the thing he was more interested in was Robin.

Where someone like Superman or so would've charged in and begun trying to use brute force to subdue every criminal, Robin had opted to be slyer. The Man had grinned as he had watched Robin through hidden cameras. He examined his skills and the way he was enraged at the Joker.

On a whim, he brought up footage of Robin from one of his gallivants with Batman and was shocked to find a difference. Robin seemed to have changed a lot over a few months. He pondered what had caused it, the most probable conclusion was Robin taking the job as the leader of the team of young heroes. That was the most probable conclusion but he would reserve that until he knew for certain. He was curious if nothing else.

Currently, he was watching the police set up shop at the river and had to congratulate Robin as well as Gordon on their tactical choice, they could hold the villains at the bridges. But as long as the villains weren't stupid enough to get themselves captured, his reason for breaking them out wouldn't be in danger.

Yes, he doubted whether even the Joker would turn down a chance to show up at his little get-together.

* * *

The sun peeked over the horizon, it was dawn. The Police held nearly half of Gotham. In the other half, the villains had grown bored with their rampage and set up shop in various places to rest.

For now at least, most of the fighting had stopped.

* * *

Robin was sitting in the cave. He was debating what to do. Finally he made a choice.

He brought out a communicator highly reminiscent of a Teen Titans communicator and pressed a button on the side.

* * *

Megan and Skip were catching up with each other in the kitchen, Superboy was watching some TV. Suddenly both Megan and Superboy reached in their pockets and pulled out the communicators Robin had given them. They read the message, gathered their things, and then headed towards the teleporters, with Skip in tow.

* * *

Aqualad was sitting in his home, practicing his fighting moves when his special waterproof communicator beeped. He read the message, then walked towards the teleporter. In Star City and Gotham City, Kid Flash, Batgirl, and Artemis were doing pretty much the same thing.

* * *

In a city in Russia that was in the process of reconstruction a man in green clothing felt his communicator beep and he smiled, a teleporter had just been installed.

* * *

On Oa, the headquarters of the Green Lanterns, Guy Gardner was bored. He was off-duty and was longing for something to happen. His communicator beeped and he took off immediately.

* * *

In El Paso, Jaime Reyes was on vacation. He was in his room when he heard a beeping sound. He grabbed his communicator and felt a thrill of excitement. He suited up and took off.

* * *

And lastly, in Jump City the three Titans that Robin had recruited only the day before all received the same message. And they too set out for Gotham.

* * *

Robin waited in the building he had set the meeting place at. He had sent a message with instructions on how to reach the nearest teleporter for the those who needed it and the building he was in was another place where the League had secretly stashed a teleportation tube.

He turned to look at the teleporter as it whirred into life and saw three figures step out of it. He recognized Megan and Superboy but did a dramatic double-take at the third person. He was even more astonished when he heard Skip's voice telepathically say "_hey Robin, miss me?"_

"_Yeah, nice new body by the way."_

Skip looked, in many ways like the Genomorphs from Cadmus that appeared to be the most numerous. He was standing on all fours and his skin tone was still grayish. But several things set him apart. He was larger than the normal genomorphs had been. He had spikes that sprouted along his arms and his claws seemed extremely sharp. His head also had a thick bunch of spikes that gave off the impression of hair.

Skip grinned as he saw Robin examining him "_I'm not even sure of all the abilities I have, but I can manipulate my claws, I know that much."_

Robin watched as he extended, then retracted his claws. He looked at the others and noticed that Superboy was looking pointedly away from Skip. If Robin got the chance he needed to have a talk with Superboy about that.

The teleporter flashed again and out of it stepped three more people, Artemis, Aqualad, and Kid Flash.

They all exchanged greetings and then they saw Skip. Aqualad and Kid Flash took a few seconds, then they said "Is that you Skip?"

"_In the flesh."_

"Uh, so who are you?" Artemis asked.

It took Robin a few seconds to remember that Artemis had never met Skip before.

"Skip was a member of the Young Justice, but he went into some sort of Chrysalis before you joined, he hatched recently" Megan explained.

As Artemis made Skip's acquaintance Robin watched as Batgirl swooped in through the window and the teleporter lit up again and Blue Beetle, Guy Gardner, and Red Star walked out of it.

Robin walked forward and greeted them "how are you all."

"This mission came just in time " Guy Gardner said "I had nothing to do on Oa and then this call came around, I hope it's really dangerous."

Robin nodded and Guy Gardner grinned with anticipation. Robin turned to Blue Beetle and said "I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"

Beetle waved it off "not at all, I was on break."

Robin turned lastly to Red Star "how's the rebuilding effort going?"

"It is moving apace. My super-strength and flight capabilities is working wonders with helping the repairmen move heavy objects. I've also developed a way to channel my radioactive energy and shoot it through a beam."

Robin nodded but then Red Star's face fell "but comrade, I must speak to you on a certain matter. The government is taking interest in my city again. I think it is because of my experiment. They are planning something, and with all of this political upheaval I think they are connected. The ruler is not a good man and I believe he, in his heart of hearts, would love nothing more than to see the United States destroyed."

Robin nodded; he had to acknowledge that there were a good deal of political changes going on that made him uneasy.

"So is this everyone?" Kid Flash asked.

Robin grinned "not quite."

The teleporter lit up once more and the last three shapes emerged from it. Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven stood there.

Robin introduced them "I recruited these three just yesterday, their names are Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy."

After a polite round of introductions and small talk everyone's eyes turned to Robin. He straightened up and began speaking "I suppose you haven't heard the news, at least those of you who don't live in Gotham haven't. Last night, every criminal in Arkham Asylum broke out."

Most of the group gasped. Batgirl and Artemis had been asleep and thus had been unaware of the breakout.

"Robin, I am sorry, how is the city fairing" Aqualad inquired.

Robin's face was grim, "we managed to draw a line and save half the city, but the other half is completely under criminal control. Now I can't do this job alone, that's why I called you all here. Together, we will work with the Gotham Police Department to take back the city and ensure that every criminal is put back into jail where they belong. I won't sugarcoat it, many of these people are certifiable homicidal maniacs. They will kill you if they get the chance."

Robin once more looked up and down the group of people standing in front of him and offered "if anyone wants to back out now, feel free."

No one moved but Cyborg raised his hand. Robin nodded in acknowledgement of him and he asked "where's the League, I would've thought they would've wanted to handle this personally?"

"They are currently on a mission offworld to halt a natural disaster on a distant planet that is going side by side with an invasion by the Gordanians. We're on our own here."

Still nobody moved and Robin smiled "thanks guys, now we need to get down to the police station."

They all moved off, those who could fly assisting those who couldn't.

* * *

Commissioner Gordon had a map of Gotham open and was looking over it with Kyle when an officer came in and advised him to come outside. He did so and was rewarded with a sight that he had most certainly not been expecting. Robin was walking towards him with a group of over 10 other superheroes. Most of them were young though he could spot at least two grown men. He looked at Robin and asked "what's all this?"

Robin grinned "I figured we could use a little help, so I called in all the help I could find."

Gordon grinned, suddenly flushed with confidence "this is great, all this support and we can take the fight to the villains directly."

Robin nodded "that's what I propose, we need to press our advantage and make several strikes tonight. We can split up into teams."

Gordon nodded and had several people bring out a table and they spread a large map of Gotham over it. Many people had volunteered to help in the wake of the catastrophe, whether it was feeding the Cops or helping to barricade the bridges.

Gordon began point to several key areas on the map as all the heroes gathered around "now, we've been receiving a steady flow of refugee's coming in from the criminal's side of the city. From them, we've been able to gather a good bit of intelligence. The criminals on the whole are acting with the attitude of working together. However, certain gangs are hitting people up for money. Now there are several areas of interest."

He pointed to a large area that had one building surrounded by a respectable amount of free space, enough to keep it from being jumped to from another building.

"That's the hospital and from what we can gather, a good deal of the people from that part of the city reacted violently to the criminals. They all mostly already had guns so they decided to use them to defend themselves. Eventually they retreated and they're now holed up in the hospital. From what I can gather the fighting's stopped as day broke but I expect it to restart when night falls. Now the hospital is only about a mile from the river and, if we were able to sieze control of it and the outlying buildings that would be another chunk of Gotham we'd have won back. Best thing about it is that we will have support from the people inside the hospital."

Robin nodded. Gordon then pointed to a corresponding area on the side opposite the Hospital.

"This area, now here is another area where the people took up arms. This is a museum and when the security guards saw the criminals, they sent out the word and a lot of people garrisoned the museum. They're not as well off as the hospital however so we need to help them tonight as well."

Finally his hands moved to the park which Poison Ivy had set up shop in.

"A plant based villainess named Poison Ivy has spread an unnatural jungle throughout this park, fortunately for us, it is right smack dab up against the river, she's a major problem for our police forces because once she gets entrenched in it's really hard for us to "root" her out so-to-speak. If any of you could do anything about that it would be appreciated."

Robin thought of how to handle all these situations. Then Raven raised her hand, and after she was acknowledged she said "I have some healing powers so I think I should go to the hospital."

Robin nodded "mostly those with ranged attacks should go to the hospital, Raven, Blue Beetle, Cyborg, Batgirl, aaaaand . . . Beast Boy should go."

Gordon nodded "you four can draw all the attention while my police forces move in from the back. How about Poison Ivy's park?"

Robin thought about it "Red Star should go since your radioactive blasts will be able to kill the plants." Red Star nodded.

"And Guy Gardner, you could form a huge chainsaw or something."

Gardner cracked his knuckles with delight at the thought.

"Aaaaand" Robin cast about for a third member and suddenly his eyes landed on Skip with his razor sharp claws "Skip should go with, we can maintain a telepathic connection. With all four groups."  
Skip nodded but then Beast Boy said in a confused voice "wait, four, I thought he only mentioned three places."

"I'm getting there" Robin said "now, I think the Young Justice team should take the museum while the cops come in from the back again."

Robin looked over at Gordon who nodded. Then Robin pointed at the docks "Gordon, what's your intel on the docks?"

"So far as we can tell, only one gang has set up shop there."

"Good, I'll be headed there."

This pronouncement was followed by an outbreak of objections, Robin raised his hand and they all fell silent.

"I know those docks like the back of my hand, and you forgotten how easily I can hide, I was trained by the best."

Robin noted with a grim feeling that even though he would've rather he hadn't been trained under him, Slade definitely qualified as one of the best.

"If I need any help I'll call in."

Everyone was silent. Robin could tell that they didn't like his decision but he was the leader so they stood by it.

"So, I think that each team should have a leader. Cyborg will lead his team, Red Star will-"

"Hey, Guy Gardner doesn't take orders from nobody except you!"

Robin considered him, once their team got in they would most likely be occupied with "deforestation."

"Fine, but if things get out of hand, Red Star becomes leader. Aqualad will lead the Young Justice."

Gordon clapped his hands "I suggest we all rest up, just remember to be back here an hour before nightfall."

The group broke off as they all looked for something to do. Gordon grabbed Robin's hand before he left and confided with him "I got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, none of the criminals is trying to get a hostage situation or anything. Just be careful when you leave tonight. Robin nodded, then he ran back to the Batcave, set an alarm, and fell asleep as soon as he hit his bed.

* * *

Raven was standing alone by herself when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and saw that Beast Boy, Blue Beetle, and Cyborg were looking at her with rather nervous looks.

"What."

"Well, we were kinda wondering whether you'd like to play a game with us. You always seem to be alone."

Raven considered it "what is this game?"

Cyborg produced, to Raven's disgust, a ball of smelly socks "it's called . . . STANKBALL! You see you throw the stankball at each other like this!"

He threw the wad of socks and it hit Raven. Cyborg waited with baited breath, wondering if she was going to kill him for his stupidity.

Raven held the wad of socks in her hands, then she looked at him with an evil grin beginning to cover her face.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you, did you mean like this?"

The socks glowed black and Cyborg whimpered and ran for his life as Raven pelted the socks right at his face.

* * *

Skip had gone back to get the Bio-Ship and Artemis had left to handpick her arrows. Currently, Kid Flash and Aqualad were walking alongside each other. Aqualad was asking Kid Flash something.

"Have you noticed how serious Robin is this time, he does not smile that much or laugh. I wonder why."

Kid Flash thought back to his last mission with Robin and the understanding they'd come to. He smiled and waved his hand "I wouldn't be too hard on him. Remember, this is his home and it's being torn apart by supervillains."

"I had not . . . considered that . . . thank you Kid Flash I fear I am being a bit hard on Robin. I can only imagine my fury if I learned that a violent civil war had broken out in Atlantis."

They walked on.

* * *

Red Star and Guy Gardner were discussing their mission.

"What sort of things do you think I should make with my ring, chainsaws, swords, maybe even a lawn mower!"

"I vill be relying on you and Skip for most of the slashing and cutting. I in turn will blast the plants out of the vay."

"Nice, but don't you have any suggestions?"

Red Star smiled "It vill be very interesting to see you, the man with a green thumb, so to speak, destroying plants and such. Vhat an oxymoron."

* * *

Megan and Superboy were leaning against the table when the policeman in that ridiculous fedora walked over to them.

"Hey, my name's Kyle Bruleg, what's yours?"

"I'm Ms. Martian, and this is Superboy."

"Nice to meet you, would you like me to show you some of the brighter point of Gotham?"

"I'd love to, do you want to Superboy?"

Superboy shrugged and began walking alongside them as they began walking down the streets.

Kyle pointed out various attractions in Gotham. Kyle was greeted by many people and Superboy noted "your popular."

Kyle shrugged as if to say "meh" but just then some people walked by them and said in casual voices "hey Sheriff."

Kyle greeted them back and, upon seeing Megan's and Superboy's confused faces he shrugged sheepishly.

"It's just a nickname I've gotten. You see, because I'm more of a . . . uh . . . gun-slinger sort of cop, they said I was a bit like an old west sheriff. So the name kinda stuck. People call me the Sheriff of Gotham."

Then Kyle stopped and looked right a cathedral that was across the road. Megan looked at how intently he was staring at it and asked "something wrong."

"What? No, it's just that that place is very important to me."

"How so?"

"That's where I made the choice to become a cop."

"Why, what happened?"

Kyle's face darkened and Megan quickly said "you don't have to tell me if you don't want to!"

"No, no it's alright. I want my story to be known."

He began walking on again and Megan and Superboy followed both eager to hear the story.

"Well, I guess we'll start at the beginning. My parents were drug dealers. They were as addicted to the stuff they sold as they're customers were. And of course, when they had me, all that mattered to them was that they still had enough money to buy as many cigarettes or whatever they wanted. They gave me just enough attention to keep me healthy. But then of course, they never gave me what I wanted, their love."

His voice was unbearably bitter and Megan found herself placing a hand on his shoulder, even Superboy could empathize with his want for attention.

"Well, off course I got curious about what it was that made my parents so happy and sooo . . . whatever it was they got whenever they took their drugs. So, of course, I tried some."

Megan gasped and Superboy asked "what happened?"

Kyle gave a hollow sort of laugh "what else, I got as addicted as they were; I took drugs for a long time, trying to fill the void where my parents love was supposed to be. It never was enough."

He paused and now on his face was clear sadness "Batman of course came on the scene and found out about who was selling drugs to half the people in Gotham. My folks tried to run. They tried to run from the police, and they got shot."

It was silent, no one spoke.

"They died, and I was left alone. I had nothing, no real reason to live so, I decided to end it."

Megan gasped again.

"I took as many drugs as I thought I could handle and stuffed many more in my pockets in case it wasn't enough. I wandered around the streets for hours just waiting for it to end. I must've passed out in front of the Church. When I woke up, all my drugs were gone and I was lying in a bed. I was wondering where I was when a man in a suit walked in and asked how I was doing. I sarcastically said "lousy" and he asked why. I broke down and began to shout about every bad thing that had happened in my life."

A slow smile was creeping across Kyle's face.

"He took it all in and then asked me why I had never tried to be something greater than myself. I said that it was impossible. He smiled and said "you're in the house of God, with him anything it possible. I couldn't believe my ears. I wanted something to strive for and he offered me it."

His eyes were shining now "I got saved and then I thought about what I should strive for. My mind fell on my parents and I then swore an oath to join the police in some form or another in the war on crime. I broke my addictions and from then on I helped the cops in any way that I could until I became a cop. I was good and I rose through the ranks until I became 2nd in command to Gordon. People began calling me the Sheriff of Gotham."

Megan's eyes were shining as she looked at him with admiration "that was an amazing story!"

Superboy smiled in agreement and Kyle said in an enthusiastic voice "would you two like to come to Church with me on Sunday?"

"We'd love to."

They all smiled and walked back.

* * *

It was almost nighttime and most of the people were now gathered outside by the Bio-Ship. The police forces were getting together and putting on heavy-duty riot gear.

Megan was inside the police station and was taking a look around. Suddenly she came to a cell that held a man inside it; half of the man's face was horrible disfigured.

Curiously she reached out with her mind to get a mental picture of the man commonly known as Two-Face. She gasped as she felt a malevolent psyche underneath the face. The dominant personality was violent and angry, but she felt something underneath that. It was as if someone was trapped inside, underneath the identity that had committed so many murders.

Then she heard her name being called and she whispered telepathically "_I'll be back."_

Then she left, leaving a bit of a confused Two-Face.

* * *

Night had fallen, and the battle had begun.

* * *

_I hope I didn't overdo it with the length. Gahh, why am I always so nervous. If you have any questions, misunderstandings, feel that I missed something or made a mistake, feel free to point it out and I'll try to correct it._

_Next chapter we see the results of each of their forays. Another, member of The Light will make a cameo next chapter. Two-Face is up for examination. And I reveal a big part of the plot behind the release of the criminals of Arkham._

_I hope you like Kyle, please tell me you liked Kyle. And about Skip, sorry if I disappointed._

* * *

**_Now for the Mailbag:_**

KaliAnn  
Not to short if you ask me, this filler is really building up to something that's going to be a game changer. I loved reading about Slade's thoughts on Robin. You have quite the political science mind to describe all the troubles with the countries. Reminds me a bit of my own story at the moment. I'm glad that Robin found three out of four, but you're right to keep Starfire away for now. It might hurt to much to see her. I can't wait to see Skip's new form its going to be so cool! Your the best!

**_Thanks, I hope this isn't too dark or long. The countries that Luthor is exerting influence over are building towards the ultimate plot._**

**_Yep, Starfire sure means a lot to Robin, He probably would have trouble controlling himself if her doppelganger came on the scene._**

**_I hope I delivered on Skip's new form. You'll get to see him as well as everyone else in action next chapter._**

TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne  
I've been looking for a new fan fic to read. The I realized I was reading this one before and forgot about it when I got busy! But now I'm back!

A brief intro, but intriguing as Robin cleary was't expecting to be where he was.

Well, well, things are even more confusing for poor Robin.

**_I hope you liked the rest of the fic. I hope it's half as good as your Young Justice Teen Titans story._**

**_An interesting contrast I noticed was that while your fic is rooted in the Teen Titans world, mine is rooted in the Young Justice world. Just an interesting fact._**

SuperninjaX

Aw pewps... Oh well, AWESOME STORY! I am really excited for the next chapter! I really wish someone knew who he was! Other than batman and Alfred...

**_Well, Batgirl knows, thanks for your compliments, I hope I delivered._**

litra  
just read the first two chapters. i like the idea and can't wait to see where you take it. a part of me is now imagining YJ Robin waking up in titans tower and and BB being the one to try to figure the whole thing out. :)

**_Well, I hope you liked the rest. Maybe I'll consider writing that idea down later._**

ShadowEntity  
Yay! Raven, BB, and Cyborg have been found! (It was awfully lucky that Raven was near BB and Cyborg when Robin was, if you know what I am saying :P)

Great chapter! I like the length. (I was happy when I saw that you had updated. It brightened my dull day.)

I hope you update soon!

**_Very lucky indeed . :D_**

**_I hope this length wasn't too long._**

Renegade

I truly appreciate all of your chapters. Thank you for posting :)

**_Thanks, I hope this doesn't break that record._**

Riqis Inna Sunja

'oh no! the nutcases are out! call the justice league!'

..."there on a huge mission."

'then call the...sidekicks!'

"PARTNERS!"

'Whatever, just go do your job!'

lol, great chapter, perhaps a little dry, but it happens to the best :). i cant wait for the next chapter! your dong a great job! keep up the great work!

**_Very funny post. :D_**

**_Sorry if it was a bit dry. This chapter actually has action in it._**

Evil Soul  
Great chapter you've got here. Little on the short side for my tastes but still a pretty decent length. I enjoyed that you have brought the titans in (3 out of 4 anyway), but feel you introduced too many too quickly. I would hav liked to have seen it spread out over a few chapters or something. Just having him meet Cyborg and then run into Beastboy and Raven so soon after when he wasn't even looking for them seems off. Everything else was asolutly brillent. Can't begin to tell you how much I'm looking forward to the next chapter and the Arkham breakout.

By the way, I have seen "Batman: Under The Red Hood". So far it's my favourite because of the darker, more human life and death and insanity stuff along with Dick Grayson appearing as Nightwing (him being my favourite DC Character). "Superman/Batman: Apocalypse" is my second favourite, mostly because Supergirl is in it and she's another of my favourite characters in DC.

**_The reason I wanted them in was so that I could use them in this story arc. Sorry if it was a bit quick._**

**_Well, the Arkham breakout is starting to look more like a mini-war._**

**_Yeah, "Under the Red Hood" is certainly a superb look at Batman and the fine line he rides between merely catching the villains, and killing them._**

**_Maybe I'll include Supergirl, unlikely though. Maybe I'll save her for the sequel._**

Lovely-blue-lady  
Oh my gosh I live in el paso Texas I love your story so far and I'm positive I'll like the rest

**_Wow, what a coincidence. Thanks, I hope you did like the rest and like this._**


	16. In the Dark of the Knight Part 2

_WOW! I am such a jerk. Leaving all you guys hanging for about 4 months. I am so sorry. I really am a jerk for making you all wait like this. I am so sorry. _

_I hope this chapter improves over what I feel is a usually lackluster attempt at writing. I truly am trying to give my characters depth, their own little space in the limelight, and not over clutter the story. Please help me, tell me what I'm doing wrong and how I could fix it. _

_If you can tell where I pulled some scenes from and that detracts from the story, I am really sorry. I feel like I'm running really low on inspiration lately. I'm trying to get myself to write. But any sort of help would be appreciated._

_I also decided to leave Red Star's group, the Police, and the talk with Two-Face until next chapter. It was just becoming too cumbersome to write all the groups and events into one chapter._

_This arc just might take two more chapters to complete, but only that at max. I can probably complete it next chapter._

* * *

"_Again."_

"_But Batman, I beat it!"_

"_Again."_

"_. . . there."_

"_Again."_

"_Bu-"_

"_Again!"_

" _. . . done."_

"_Again."_

_In one of the many caverns in the Batcave a course had been set up. A large course that featured nearly anything you could think of, mock criminals, raised platforms to imitate buildings, and other such things._

_And currently, a certain Boy Wonder, only age nine, was running the course over and over again. He finished by throwing a grenade and it blew up by the last criminal, just far enough away not to kill him if he were real, but close enough to knock him out. _

_He turned to Batman with a questioning look on his face._

"_Again."_

"_C'mon Batman!"_

"_Again."_

_And so he ran it again, flipping over the "buildings" and taking out criminals. He finished and looked back to Batman._

"_Not stealthy enough, again."_

_Robin groaned and ran the course again, this time sticking to the shadows. Once finished he turned back to Batman._

"_Be quicker this time, again."_

_Robin groaned louder and ran the course through again. _

_Once finished he looked back at Batman with a pleading expression. Even Alfred, who had come down with some hot chocolate, said "I think it's high time the boy rest master Bru-"_

_Batman held up his hand and Alfred ceased. He looked at Robin, and then hit some switches. _

_Robin looked and saw more "criminals" pop up in harder to reach places, cover got reduced and sprinklers turned on to simulate a deluge of rain. _

_Robin turned back with a desperate hope that maybe Batman was just preparing for the next session._

"_Again."_

_Robin's lip quivered, and then he set his teeth and dived into the course. It took him nearly ten minutes to complete and he received some "kill" shots from criminal paintball guns._

_He wobbled out of the course, bone tired. He was stopped by one word._

"_Again."_

_He didn't even have the strength to look up at Batman. He dragged himself over to the reset course and, gathering his strength, dived in._

_Back at the control station, Alfred was protesting to Batman._

"_Master Bruce, what point is there in driving the boy so hard!"_

_Batman didn't take his eyes off of Robin as he desperately tried to run the course with no energy._

"_He wanted this Alfred; this is what he will face if he ever goes out into Gotham. I'm not going to sugarcoat the job for him."_

"_Sir, he's only nine!"_

_Batman gave him a chilling look "I was only eight."_

_They both heard a crash and saw that Robin had fallen off a platform and was now under fire by some automatic paintball guns. _

_On his stomach, Robin tried to drag himself away, but he was hit, again and again and again and again and again . . ._

_Then it stopped. _

_Robin didn't even have the strength to lift his eyes as he heard a loud noise that determined that the training exercise was over. He heard Batman walk over and kneel down beside him. _

_Struggling, Robin barely managed to raise his eyes to meet Batman's._

"_Wh . . . wh . . . why?"_

_Batman's face was grim as he stared down at the boy who wished to follow in his footsteps._

"_Because you will face this and far worse if you ever join me. Make no mistake, this is war. A shadow war that will be fought in dark alleyways and on top of dark buildings. We are not by any means superhuman. We have no powers to rely upon, only ourselves. Our enemies are countless, ever-present, and nigh unstoppable. If ever you come with me to fight there is no turning back. This isn't a phase, this is our life, we will sacrifice all except our moral obligations in this fight, so that others need not suffer what we did. We live with the knowledge that any friends we make are put in danger by the simple fact that they know us. If you want to come with me in this fight, I will protect you as best I can, but you must be able to fend for yourself. Can you do this?"_

_Robin thought, and as he thought, he saw something interesting. On Batman's face, almost lost in his grim glare, was another emotion . . . concern. Then Robin understood that in doing this, in making things harder for him, Batman was trying to protect him. He was trying to prepare both Robin and himself for the day when they would be separated and Robin would be alone. When that day might come, if they weren't killed before it, neither knew. But Robin knew with a certainty that he wanted this. His parent's deaths could not stand unpunished. _

_He felt a drive wake up inside him. He remembered his parents falling from the trapeze as he watched. Remembered seeing their broken bodies as their blood spread. And he felt as if the darkness inside him was now unleashed and ready to wreak vengeance upon his enemies. _

_Perhaps it was insanity, but that was not an accurate description for it carried negative implications. This type of insanity would never let him rest until he had done all he could for the forces of light. This type of insanity would never let him stop his crusade until either he was dead or all his enemies were brought to justice. This type of insanity would allow him to be the darkness that served the light, to be the shadow that rooted out evil, to be the fear in criminals hearts and to tread where others would not dare. _

_If this was what was required, then he would do it and far more. He would travel to the ends of the Earth; fight man and beast even demons if he needed. He would do just as much and try to do more than even Batman._

_With the newly found drive inside of him, he felt his arms move and, even though it hurt like heck, he pushed himself off the ground. With great difficulty he stood and looked Batman straight in the eyes._

"_I will."_

_Batman nodded. Then smiled and called to Alfred. _

"_We could use that hot chocolate right about now Alfred."_

* * *

As Robin traveled to the docks he pondered the memory. That had been the first time he really understood what it meant to be Robin.

That drive had never left him.

Sure some people might have questioned if he'd forgotten it because of his relations with the Titans but he hadn't. He'd protected them even more than they had known because he could never have asked for better friends. After the situation with Slade he had doubled his already alarming amount of hidden safeguards. He never wanted to lose his friends ever again.

That's why he'd apologized to Beast Boy after accidently making Terra leave the Tower . . .

That's why he forgave Cyborg so easily and ran to his help so quickly with Brother Blood . . .

That's why he'd been so jealous when Starfire was getting married, not just because he'd been falling in love with her, but because he was losing a friend . . .

That's why he'd tried so hard to support Raven and keep her safe from her father . . .

That was why he'd descended into Trigon's version of Hell in order to find whatever scrap of Raven he could . . .

And finally, that was why he'd expanded the Titans so much. He considered each and every one of them to be, on one level or another, his family. And family looks out for each other.

But one of the worst things that family had ever done to him had happened when Batman had given his evaluation of the Titans organization.

Batman thought he'd lost the drive.

Batman doubted him.

And Batman's opinion meant so much to him that that had hurt worse than any insult he had ever given him.

It hurt worse than any rejection or reading of the riot acts.

Even Robin doubted himself many times but always, the drive pulled him through with purpose.

He would be this way for the rest of his life, of that he was sure. This was his calling, just as it was Batman's. And in many ways, like Batman, Robin was the true person and Dick Grayson was now the mask.

And nothing would ever stop him, not Slade, not Trigon, not even Starfire would ever stop him from this. No one would ever stop him from fighting crime in one form or another.

He was Robin, the Boy Wonder . . .

* * *

Night had fallen.

And Gotham was waking up.

Gang leaders gathered their lackeys to bring what they thought would be the final assaults upon the last holdouts in their section of the city. Equipped with weapons generously supplied by Black Mask and the Penguin, they moved out. Some more comfortable than others as the Batman's Rogue's Gallery joined them.

* * *

The Bio-Ship was packed to bursting. Luckily they were about to shed some weight. They were in camouflage mode and were hovering over the overgrown park. Red Star, Guy Gardner, and Skip got into position. Three holes formed in the bio-ship's floor and they dropped.

As soon as they landed, the forest (for lack of a better term) snarled. The three heard a voice shout "YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE, NOW YOU SHALL PAY!"

Vines sprung out fast as lighting and grabbed them. Red Star scanned the forest for any sign of Poison Ivy. Guy Gardner cut himself free with some green (and grossly oversized) scissors while grinning with anticipation of the coming slaughterfest. Skip bit into the vine and swallowed a chunk. He licked his lips, and then burped.

Their fight began.

* * *

Five figures dropped onto the roof of the hospital from seemingly nowhere. These five figures walked to the edge and looked down at the battle that was going on below them.

The criminals were pushing their way into the hospital and were nearly at the doors. Last night the defenders had managed to keep the criminals at bay. Now the criminals had several advantages, one, they had several members of Batman's Rogues Gallery with them, two, they were a lot more coordinated, and three, they had riot shields.

For those who don't know, a riot shield is a shield of bullet-proof glass designed with the original intent of breaking up riots, thus its name. Now however, the criminals had managed to get a good deal and were advancing slowly but surely in a tight-knit formation. The defenders were having a hard time fighting the criminals now.

"What should we do?" asked Batgirl. Everyone looked to Cyborg for Robin had appointed him the leader of this team for the time being. He studied the situation with both his normal, and his mechanical eye.

"First things first, we need to get rid of those riot shields. We're gonna have to jump down their and take them out. Grab as many riot shields as you can. Then we retreat into the building."

Everyone nodded and then they leapt of the side of the building, those who could fly carrying those who couldn't.

* * *

The final stop of the bio-ship was over the museum and it was abnormally quiet. They looked out through the window and saw no one.

Aqualad, who was in charge for this part of the mission gave his first order "Ms. Martian, change to camouflage mode and investigate whether it's safe or not."

Megan nodded and went camouflage. She exited the bio-ship and floated down to the doors of the museum. Very quietly she opened them up and floated inwards.

"_Well, what do you see" _asked Wally over their mental link-up.

"_Nobody ye- . . . wait, two men patrolling the halls . . . their gone now. I think they're criminals."_

"_Follow them discreetly and try to gain information. Would you say it's safe to come in?"_

"_At the closest entrance, yes."_

"_Very well, we'll link up in a minute. Aqualad out."_

They dropped out of the bio-ship and moved into the museum. The first room they turned into had a bunch of stuffed animals inside of it. They were about to move on when suddenly they receive another telepathic call from Megan.

"_Aqualad, I've found the civilians. They're all tied up in a room and are being guarded by several people. I think the criminals started early tonight and took everyone by surprise. Most of their attention is actually focused on another room though."_

"_Can you see what they're focused on?"_

"_No, but I can try . . . I've almost-"_

What happened next was very weird for the group because it came across the telepathic link and they were not actually there to witness it. It sounded, (they even slightly felt it) as if something large, heavy, and extremely solid had slammed into Megan.

_Ms. Martian, report."_

"_Wha? . . . oh no . . . they know I'm here, they know I'm-"_

The same sensation occurred except that it was concentrated on the top of the head. The group stood still for a moment, then they all jumped as Superboy shouted "WELL, WHY ARE YOU ALL STANDING THERE, M'GANN NEEDS OUR HELP!"

"Yes, yes, of course" said Aqualad as he shook himself "follow me, we'll have to handle this stealthily."

The group moved on.

* * *

Down at the docks, work was going on. The gang that held control of the docks was busy transferring supplies from various boats to storage units. They did so with ease, knowing that they owned this half of Gotham, they were perfectly safe.

How very wrong they were.

One of the men walked off alone with a crate in order to put it into a storage unit. His friends didn't think much of it when he didn't return. It wasn't until 10 minutes had passed that they noticed that they were down a man.

Casually, they sent another guy to make sure the first one wasn't napping on the job or something.

He didn't come back either.

Now nervous, the leader sent 5 guys this time. He waited anxiously for them to get back. Then a few shots and yells rang out and everyone jumped. Then it died down and silence once again reigned.

Then, the lights went out and the docks plunged into darkness. The closest lights were far away in the city.

The crime boss took count of his men, without the 7 he'd already lost; he only had about 15 guys left. He had them all grab weapons and he set some lookouts.

After a 15 minute wait he ordered a report from his lookouts. They didn't reply. Now he was seriously scared. The Batman must be around. Maybe what some said was right, maybe he was a demon sent to hunt down the criminal underworld of Gotham.

He gathered his remaining guys, about 10 in all and had them scrunch together as closely as possible in a group. They moved, as quickly as possible, away from the docks. It was as the leader was looking forward that he heard a soft, almost silent, _swish._

He turned quick as lightning to see . . . nothing. This did nothing to comfort him for he heard another noise behind him and turned once more to see nothing. Severely shaken up, he and his men pushed on despite the noises.

It was only after the 12 impossibly quiet noise that he noted with a start that he had only 4 men left. They all were drenched with sweat, too scared to move.

Suddenly, an explosion blasted out of nowhere a few feet away and that was the final straw, they all broke and ran. The boss ran as fast as he could and, judging by the screams and yells, he could safely assume that whoever it was had gotten his remaining guards.

He ran on for a minute until suddenly he stepped somewhere and without warning he was hoisted into the air by his right ankle. He came to stop some ways into the air, he couldn't see anything but he could sense that whatever it was that had been stalking him was right behind him now.

"WHAT ARE YOU?"

The figure grabbed the line on which the man was suspended and twirled him around to face its pure, and terrifyingly white eyes.

"Veangance."

And the criminal knew no more.

* * *

Back at the hospital, the criminals with the riot shields advanced on the building. They were just moving up the steps when suddenly five figures landed right in their midst. The next few seconds were so confusing for the crooks that they didn't know where to turn, but they tried, no doubt about that.

One turned to run back, but met an angry . . . green gorilla. Another turned to see what looked like blue human-bug hybrid.

I don't think you'd blame them for completely giving up, throwing down their riot shields, and running away as fast as possible.

As Cyborg had ordered them to, the team quickly gathered up as many riot shields as possible and rushed inside the hospital. They were met by several armed men and women.

"FREEZE!"

Beast Boy's arms flew up in an instant "dudes don't shoot, we're the good guys!"

Cyborg stepped forward "I'm leader of this detachment of the Young Justice League. We're here to help clear out the attackers while Gordon leads the cops to attack from the rear."

The leader of the people with the guns looked suspicious but one of his troops said "c'mon chief, they aren't any villains we've seen around here and they just got rid of the riot shield column!"

After a few moments, they lowered their guns and everyone relaxed. The leader, who happened to be a big beefy man who just gave off a feeling of stability and strength, beckoned them upstairs. They followed and as they walked down some halls they took in the sounds. From the outside of the building, it was rare not to hear at least one gunshot for more than 30 seconds. Inside the building, as the passed numerous open doors, they heard an almost constant sound of groaning and moaning from patients, and the sound of countless nurses and doctors working on the wounded.

They entered a large room that obviously was once the mess hall or eating lounge of the floor. On a large table, a map had been spread out and various knick-knacks representing people were placed on it.

The leader pointed to the map and said "we've managed to hold them off for now, those riot-shields you brought us should come in handy. But what I'm worried about is if one of the bigger Batman villains decides t-"

They all stopped as they heard something. It sounded like music strangely enough.

Then a man with a gun came running in and shouted "SIR, WE'VE GOT SOME BIG ONES ADVANCING ON THE EAST SIDE."

"How many?"

"Can't tell sir, but it seems like the Joker's with them."

The leader of the hospital looked back at the team with a grim smile on his face "looks like we'll need you quicker than we thought. Let's go."

* * *

Inside the museum, the criminals were being extra careful. They had captured a green girl and that told them that they weren't alone. They merely continued on with their job that had been given to them by Batman's nemesis. They were setting up a device in an out-of –the-way room. There were about 20 of them, the rest had left after they'd taken the building.

One of the thugs who was guarding the door to the room holding the prisoners.

"How long is this gonna take?" he asked his superior.

"Shut yer yap, alls we gotta do here is set this up and then move onto the next site, then we won't have to worry about no baby league or anything.

The questioning henchman submitted with a small grumble. He was glancing down the hallway when he heard footsteps. They appeared to be coming from around the corner. He signaled his bud and they quickly got the rest of the gang.

They moved quickly and quietly down the hall until they got to the corner. None of them noticed how the footsteps didn't seem to be getting any closer or further away.

The leader turned to the rest of the gang and mouthed "_on three._" They nodded, not noticing that the footsteps had stopped. The leader held up three fingers. He put down one, two, then three and they all rushed around the corner to see . . . nothing.

As they were all looking around in confusion the ones at the very back of the group suddenly felt a burning pain across the backs of their heads and they dropped. Those still standing whirled around, only for some of them to receive hits to the face by the Young Justice Team.

The few that were left charged but, rather stupidly on their part, they attempted to grab Superboy. They latched on and Superboy, giving a small sigh of annoyance, simply waved his arms around once and the wall had face shaped indentations a moment later in them.

Artemis moved towards the door holding the civilians and opened it up. She flipped on the light and had a look inside. It was a mix of men women and children, mostly women and children though. The people seemed afraid and gasped when she opened the door.

"It's alright, I'm Artemis, part of the Young Justice League. I'm here to help."

From the side, she heard someone ask "is this green girl one of yours?"

Artemis was pushed aside forcefully as Superboy rushed into the room. He rushed over to Megan and picked her up with ease. She groaned and as she started to come round the rest of the team started cutting everyone free.

"What happened?" Superboy asked.

After a few moments, Megan answered "I was trying to sneak in through the other door they were guarding in stealth mode, but someone closed right then and it hit me. They clubbed me on the back of the head after that."

She blinked, the asked "how'd you take care of the guards?"

Aqualad answered her "I had Kid make it sound as if we were walking down another hallway. As the guards gathered to ambush us, we used the vents to get behind them. As they turned the bend, Kid ran around to meet us and we jumped them from behind."

"Where is Kid Flash anyway?"

They all looked around and then they heard Wally call "GUYS, IN HERE QUICK!"

They all left the civilians who were finishing up the untying jobs themselves and ran into the room that the crooks had been busy in. Kid was standing in front of a small, vaguely box shaped, item. Kid was busy at work switching and cutting wires for a few seconds, then he stopped and gave a sigh of relief.

"What was it?"

" . . . a bomb."

"How strong?"

Kid lifted a lid and looked inside "given this amount of Nitroglycerin, strong enough to level the whole building."

They all stood in silence, realizing how close they might have been to an early death.

Then Aqualad said to Megan "put me in touch with Robin, he needs to know about this."

* * *

Robin looked at all the criminals he had taken down. He'd taken a leaf out of Batman's books and had decided to play on their fears. He had to admit that he'd done it quite well too.

"You are more like the Detective than many give you credit for."

Robin whirled around, already in a starting position if he would be needed to fight. Because he knew that voice and he knew that title was only used by one man.

But instead of the criminal mastermind himself, he saw a man with a laptop. The laptop was open and on it was the face of Ra's Al Ghul. The man was looking at Robin with an interested expression.

Robin, after a quick look around to make sure it wasn't an ambush, dropped down to see the man more effectively.

"What do you want Ghul" said Robin in a clipped tone. He wasn't sure what to expect.

Ra's smiled mysteriously "many things, but to answer you directly boy, I wish to speak with you, without any pointless violence or anything of that sort."

Robin raised an eyebrow "you want to meet under a white flag of truce?"

"Exactly."

"Why, what do you want to tell me, the protégé of your greatest enemy?"

Ra's simply smiled wider in his mysterious manner "I have some information that will be of use to you. I swear upon my honor that I have no ill intent for you, your underlings, nor anyone else in the city of Gotham. I will merely give you my information, and then I shall leave."

Robin considered this, Ra's was one of Batman's Rogues Gallery that actually held his honor in such high regards that he would many times rather die than break it. Also, Robin knew that he would never waste his time with such a trivial matter.

He was just about to respond when he felt a small mental prod that indicated that Megan wanted to put him in contact with someone. He consented to the link and Aqualad's voice sounded in his head "_Robin, we've just liberated the museum but there's been a very disturbing occurrence. Someone had men planting enough explosives to destroy the museum down here."_

" _. . . we can't look into that right now, make sure the civilians are safe. Gather any support you can and link up with Gordon's men. I'll be a bit later than expected; I have to meet with someone."_

"_Who?"_

"_No time for chit-chat, just do as I say."_

"_Affirmative!"_

"_Good luck team!"_

He then turned to Ra's and said "I'll hear you out, but it has to be quick."

Ra's smiled yet again "but of course."

* * *

At the hospital, a weird scene was going on. Two large people were getting ready to charge the hospital. One was a large man who gave a distinct zombie impression. This piece of work's name was Solomon Grundy.

He, along with his partner and their leader in this little escapade of attack, charged the hospital, being slowed down a bit by the extra weight they were carrying.

In the hospital, the gang rushed downstairs and looked out of a window. All the while, the music they'd heard upstairs was growing louder until Best Boy exclaimed "DUDES, WHO'S CAUSING THIS RACKET!"

The question was answered as they looked out the windows.

They looked, and they saw perhaps the weirdest scene so far in their lives. Both Solomon Grundy, and Killer Croc were charging the Hospital. But sitting on the back of Kill Croc was the Joker. Except that he was dressed up in a cowboy costume and Croc was dressed up as a cow. Joker also had a boom box strapped to his back playing Cowboy music and he twirled a rope above his head as he dug his spurs into Croc's sides.

Everyone was too dumbfounded to move as the Clown Crocboy charged and, a moment later, they were all smashed back as a hole was hit through the wall.

They all coughed and looked at the two behemoths in the room with them. Joker laughed, somehow combining his classic insane laugh with some sort of cowboy rendition. He twirled the rope and threw, at the same time shouting out "GET THE VARMINTS, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The lasso flew through the air and wrapped itself around Raven. She suddenly found herself being towed around the room.

The others sprang forward but Grundy knocked several of them aside. Those still standing, namely Cyborg and Batgirl, charged Grundy.

Grundy threw a punch at Batgirl but she leapt over it and landed behind him. Cyborg threw his own punch and it hit Grundy right in the face. Grundy stumbled back and felt a cord wrap around his waist. Disregarding it, he returned his attention to Cyborg and grabbed his head.

Elsewhere in the room, Joker was still laughing a hillbilly laugh as he dragged Raven around the room. Croc then stopped as he faced a new adversary, a green bull. Joker grinned in anticipation.

"So it's a showdown at the rodeo is it? Let's get it started then!"

Both 'animals' charged and collided with a loud "SMASH!"

Beast Boy flew back, reverting back to his human form and massaging his head. Killer Croc charged again and he yelped and turned into a gorilla. Grabbing Croc, he lifted him over his shoulder and smashed him on his back, catapulting the Joker away.

Croc leapt up, already tired of playing the part of a cow and engaged in a wrestling match with Beast Boy.

Grundy had both Cyborgs arms and was ready to pull him apart when suddenly he felt a sharp tug and he was pulled backwards, dropping Cyborg as he went. He turned to see that the rest of the gang, Blue Beetle, the civilian leader, and Batgirl were pulling him around on the rope Batgirl had wrapped around his waist.

Seeing that Grundy was about to pull them back Jaime asked his suit "c'mon suit, give me something!"

Suddenly the suit (for lack of a better term) inflated and Jaime grabbed the rope and began twirling it around above his head. Grundy flew around and around, growing more and more disoriented. With one final heave, Jaime let go of the rope like an Olympic Athlete releasing those huge metal balls and Grundy flew out of the building and disappeared over Gotham city.

Some seconds later, a whimper that sounded like a beaten dog was heard and they all saw Killer Croc sprinting out of the door, his cow costume in shreds with one of the horns bent and another missing.

Beast Boy flexed his arms and boasted "oh yeah, chicks are gonna be falling over themselves when they hear how I took down Croc all by myself."

"Ooooh, I doubt you'll get the chance, hahahahahaha!"

They all turned to see that the Joker had a knife pressed to Raven's throat and had another maniacal grin on his face.

"Now before the rest of you get any ideas, here's what's going to happen, you're all going to give up and then I'll let your little ladyfriend here go."

Raven looked at the others and said in a bored monotone "remind me again why I'm considering joining this team?"

* * *

Robin surveyed the man in front of him. Ra's Al Ghul was not prone to deck himself out with unnecessary trinkets. The most noticeable feature was the large cloak that covered most of him. His goateed face looked curious as he looked Robin down and up.

"Well, I agreed to this meeting under a flag of truce, so let's not waste any time with pointless jargon, what do you want?"

"Interesting."

"What's interesting?" Robin asked.

"You . . . you are not the same."

Robin froze as his blood ran cold.

"What are you talking about?"

Ghul made a face "do not insult my intelligence boy. You are not the same apprentice of the Detective that I have clashed with dozens of times over. You're mannerisms are in near complete conflict with him. You are too glaringly different from him to be the same."

Robin refused to comment. Ra's sighed.

"I suppose I will have to explain my reasoning even further. While the Detective and his Apprentice are perhaps the most skilled heroes in the world at keeping their operations away from the prying ears of the media, they are many times filmed in action. I believe you, obviously being more of the mind of the Detective then your predecessor; will have studied his rogue's gallery. Thus you must be aware of the fact that knowledge is an effective weapon and one I use to great effect. I have studied Robin and know much of him, his skills, his habits, his . . . mannerisms."

Ra's took a deep breath.

"You are not the same person. The former Robin was far more laid back and comfortable with his position. You are the polar opposite, what some would call a "control freak." You parallel the Detective far more greatly then the original Robin. The Detective will stop at nothing; he has the drive to sacrifice all but his beliefs in order to carry out his crusade. You are like that, unlike the original Robin. Your devotion to the crusade is something to be marveled at. The former Robin, while undoubtedly skilled, was not so engrossed in his hero career."

"I'M NOT LIKE HIM!" Robin sputtered, which was an improvement of his reaction to that comparison in some ways.

Ra's merely shook his head and smirked, a strange understanding look on his face.

"You are more like him then you wish to believe. But I see that I will not be able to convince you. The fact remains that you are a different person from the Robin that I know, while you may look like him you are not him."

Robin gazed at Ra's. The uncomfortable truth dawned on him, a supervillain knew his secret, and held that information, ready to be used.

As if reading his mind, Ra's continued "now, before you ask what I intend to do with this information I shall answer you. I intend to do nothing with it."

"What?" asked Robin, shock written all over his face.

"If by "do something with it" you mean do something that results in direct or indirect harm to you, then I don't mean to do anything with this information."

"Why?"

"Simple, I do not want to. While he and I may not agree, I have a healthy respect for the detective. A portion of that respect is also reserved for his apprentice and your recent actions and mannerisms encourage me to give you your own portion of respect with nothing to do with the Detective. I see no need for any other of my associates to know your secret and I am interested to see how you face the Light."

Curiousity overrode all of Robin's other feelings.

"You know about the Light?"

Ra's nodded "yes, my associate leading this little debacle is part of it. As am I."

A strange gleam came into Ra's eyes as well as a small smile that colored his face.

"I am curious; all my previous wars were either with the Detective or with his vaunted League. But now a new power arises, headed by the Detective's protégé, whom I suspect is nothing of the sort but merely an imposter. I am curious to see how a new Robin, one who is making a League of his own, will fare. Yes I am very excited to see how this will turn out. It should be, dare I say it, fun."

Robin shook his head to clear it, then got back to the original purpose of the meeting.

"You said you had something to tell me."

"Ah yes, my original reason for coming here. As I said before I think that this release of the insane onto the streets of Gotham is pointless. Thus I am here to tell you about an opportunity to end this situation in one fell stroke."

Robin raised his eyebrows and continued to listen.

"Tomorrow night the mastermind behind this all will gather all of the freed inmates into the Gotham City Stadium and will present them with a deal. I am not inclined, however, to tell you what the deal is, I believe you can find that out by yourself."

Robin considered this, the beginnings of a plan beginning to form in his mind. But his thoughts were cut short as Rha's made one last statement.

"One word of warning" he said as he began to back away into the shadows "the meeting is not the only reason he is here. He has great interest in another thing."

And then he was gone.

* * *

_I feel the need to explain my motive for pulling the scene at the docks from Batman Begins, it's to illustrate how much Robin is like Batman and how Robin isn't just a knock-off of Batman. He's probably the closest you could get to Batman._

* * *

_**Mailbox Time:**_

KaliAnn

This was just the right length. Robin really had his hands full with only Kyle helping him at first. It took a lot of strength not to give in and kill Joker. So Slade has noticed the change and is wondering what is driving him, well if he learns the truth he'll be surprised! That moment where Robin called in the others for help I was just picturing it as if it played like an episode! I love Skip's new look! I'm ready to read about the most epic battle in Gotham streets!

_**Well, when the truth finally comes out, I don't think that there'll be someone who wasn't surprised. Thanks, I hope this satisfied you.**_

SuperninjaX

Good chapter! Is there. Going to be some sort of revelation during this battle? Something big has GOT to happen! I really liked kyle, that's my brother-in-laws name so I kept picturing this Asian 20-year-old!

_**I really appreciate how much you do like Kyle, sorry he doesn't appear in this chapter but he's with the police forces. I hope my little talk with Ra's Al Ghul satisfied the revelation part.**_

ShadowEntity

Too lazy to log in...

Anyways! I looooooove this chapter (length and content) in all!

As for critic: Watch the "you" forms.

EX: "Kyle was greeted by many people and Superboy noted(,) "your popular."" - that should have been the "you're" (you are) form.

Update soon, please! I can't wait to see the battle.

_**Sorry about my grammar errors, those types seem to be my most frequent. Thanks for the compliment.**_

Renegade

Thank you for this action packed chapter. I can see how if Slade could again twist Robin then he would truly be mentally screwed up.

_**Yep, Slade is awesome in that he can both physically and psychologically mess with you.**_

Riqis Inna Sunja

Im imagining skip and he is awesome! i like kyle, he has a good story. that was an awesome chapter! i was reading it and smiling at its awesomeness...you know, exccept for the mutilated corpse part... great chapter! i cant wait for the next chapter!

_**Thanks, I'm sorry if the corpse part detracted from the chapter.**_

TobiGB

Man looks like somebody must've been playing Arkham Asylum or either getting ready for Arkham city either way this was a good chapter, and Megan might want to be careful when she goes into Harvey's mind. I look forward to seeing how you handle episode 12 "Home Front" That was a really, really, really good episode and so was episode 13 I was so proud of Kaldur. Anyway keep up the good work alright.

_**Actually my family got "Arkham Asylum" just this Christmas. It's a very cool game by the way. Megan's little mind trip next chapter is certainly going to be an interesting part.**_

Daughter of Poseidon014

So I was going through authors favs and I stumbled across this one, I was interested in how teen titans(best show ever!) and young justice would be if this happened and I fell on live with chapter 1! I have been reading nonstop for about three hours and now I can't wait for more! I can't wait to see how Slade will unfold his plans on(hopefully*crosses fingers*) making robin try to join him! I also like how you did the honorary titans thing with YJ. I can't wait to read hoe the YJ team and justice league will react to Robin's secret! Ooooh can't wait I will die if you don't update because of the seer awesomeness of the story can't wait til you update! Now I shall add this to my favs...

~D.O.P

_**Why thank you. I love these types of reviews. Sorry about the long update gap. Slade certainly has plans for Robin, though how he'll make him join him, that's one thing that I've hinted at this chapter. Hope you enjoy it.**_

Calcifer0703

I want da real Robby

_**Be patient, I haven't forgotten him, he'll turn up soon enough.**_

Swallow Tale

This story is AWESOME! I want more! Robin is so awesome and you have EVERYONE in character. It's just great! Keep it UP!

Sincerly-

ST

_**Thanks. That really means a lot to me, especially when I sometimes feel that my characters are a bit too . . . well . . . bland. This really makes me feel better.**_

Evil Soul

Hey, sorry that's taken me so long to review this chapter. Hard to believe its been a month. We're having the family christmas party at our house this year - though I don't think it was supposed to be our turn to play host originally - and my parents have drafted me to help get the place ready by finishing up some projects we had started, like putting up a new shed, plastering holes in the walls from when we needed to get behind them for some reason that I can't remember, ect.

Anyway, I found it very difficult to get into this chapter. Part of it was that I've been a little distracted and busy, and part of it was that I felt the chapter became cluttered by too many characters at once. The writing was solid however, and the storylines you pursued were interesting. I was hoping for a Deathstroke/Robin encounter though. Overall the chapter was excellent. I'm eagerly awaiting the next chapter, while hoping like hell I get to read and review it sooner than I did with this one.

_**I can't really complain since it took me four months to update. Sorry, I hope this chapter improved on the character clutter. The encounter with Slade/Deathstroke will happen at the meeting in the Stadium**_

Touch of the Wind

A really good story- I can't help but hope that Robin manages to gather more of the Titans into Young Justice- maybe he tracks down Terra before Slade can use her- and maybe Jericho too...it would be brilliant to have Robin form a organisation like the Titans without anyone but Batman knowing about it.

I like how you have had Robin adapt to this team- him changing the r-Cycle to his preferred model was a good touch. I like that you have featured Slade in this. Maybe have Robin have Cyborg build a t-ship since they can't always rely on Megan's bio-ship.

I can't wait to see how the Justice League feel when they come back and find out about a group of teenage superheroes fighting against Gotham's most insane and winning. Please update soon!

_**Hmmmmmm, Terra, now you've given me new ideas. Thanks! **_

_**I think that the League will pay a bit closer attention to the Young Justice after they get back, especially since they're probably going to face villains the League wouldn't let them touch with a 39 and ½ foot pole. **_

_**Perhaps I will have them build the T-Ship, or perhaps the YJ-Ship. Lol**_

_**Sorry about the long update gap.**_

Umbra8191

great story i can't wait for the next update.

_**Well here it is, far too late in my opinion.**_

wonderfulakari

Perhaps our robin in Teentitan's red x.

_**Uh, maybe. No idea what you really said, sorry. :)**_


	17. In the Dark of the Knight part 3

_This tears it, I am an even bigger jerk for leaving you all hanging for about 8 months. Don't worry, I mean it this time when I say that this story arc is almost done, as in almost completely written out. I originally intended to publish it all as one chapter but I figured you all had waited long enough. Also, it had become such a monster in length that it felt necessary to split it into two before it fried my portable hard drive. It was a nightmare to maneuver around in._

_Let's just think of this as the year anniversary chapter of the story. I still can't believe that over a year has gone by from the day that first published the first chapter on a whim. Who would've guessed that that tiny chapter would morph into my biggest ongoing story ever, I certainly didn't._

_I have to give a special shout out to my reviewer KalliAnn who kindly betaed the unfinished version of this chapter and helped me out a great deal._

* * *

_**Previously on Robin's Adventure:**_

_Robin raised his eyebrows and continued to listen._

"_Tomorrow night the mastermind behind this all will gather all of the freed inmates into the Gotham City Stadium and will present them with a deal. I am not inclined, however, to tell you what the deal is, I believe you can find that out by yourself."_

_Robin considered this, the beginnings of a plan beginning to form in his mind. But his thoughts were cut short as Ra's made one last statement. _

"_One word of warning," he said as he began to back away into the shadows "the meeting is not the only reason he is here. He has great interest in another thing."_

_And then he was gone._

**2 days later:**

_Robin was on his knees and he didn't move. A steady drip drip was the only sound that could be heard. He stared down at his hands, soaked as they were in blood._

_In the blood; of his team_

_He had failed. He had failed them all. They were all dead because he wasn't good enough. He looked over at Megan, she had been skewered by a piece of pipe, and her lifeless eyes stared back at him. Superboy lay a short distance away, he also had a pipe shoved through him, but he was stuck to the wall in some gross facsimile of standing up. The Joker always did like macabre jokes._

_Kaldur's body, beaten almost beyond recognition as he desperately tried to fend off Solomon Grundy, was lying near the water. Wally had tried to protect Artemis. But for all of his pains he'd been thrown headfirst against a wall. He'd been dead before he hit the ground. Artemis had only lived long enough to watch him fall to the concrete before her neck had been snapped by Killer Croc. Then, Robin had fallen to his knees as he heard the screams of the rest of the honorary members of the Young Justice as they were finished off. He was certain he was next to die. But when he looked up, all the villains were gone only the bodies of his team were left, taunting him silently screaming at him for his failure._

_Robin's head bowed again, as if he didn't look, then it wouldn't be so horrible, but it was. He had failed, he had let them die. He had no place being a hero; he had no place living while they died. It wasn't fair, but then again, life never seemed to be fair. _

_He was cursed, that must be it, and wherever he went all he could bring was pain and suffering. He should've just slit his wrists the night his parents died. _

_He was a monster, the worst type; the monster that tried to tell itself that it was wasn't. He was a monster that tried to deny his nature; that his very presence was a danger to all those around him, and now his friends had paid the price. _

_Suicide was his only exit. But even as this thought entered his head, something rebuffed it. Robin had no idea what it was, but it argued against that conclusion. _

_It was confusing, so he went back to simply staring at the bodies of his friends while the blood on his hands slowly dripped down to the sewer concrete._

_He was a monster._

_He was a monster._

_He was a monster…_

* * *

In the Batcave, several people were gathered around a bed. Kaldur, Superboy, and Kid Flash were the main persons paying the most attention to the boy with black hair lying on the bed. Said boy had bandages all around his body and bruises were clearly visible in the places where skin was showing. Kaldur himself had several bandages around his chest and Kid Flash's arm was in a sling. Of the trio, only Superboy seemed to be uninjured. Though if you could judge by how he was acting, he was extremely nervous as he looked down at his oldest friend.

"Will he be okay?!" Kid Flash asked apprehensively.

Kaldur, who was watching the IV monitor nodded. "The drugs were powerful and it will take time, but the chemicals Batman introduced to his body should flush them out of his system."

"But why isn't he waking up?!"

"Even this process takes time, a few hours at least, a day at most. There are too many factors to give an exact time."

Superboy grimaced "We should get Manhunter down here, he could help Robin!"

"The League judged it more necessary to convene a meeting to discuss Robin's actions."

At this sentence, all three of them looked nervous. Eventually Kid Flash broke the silence, "Man, they better not disapprove of what Robin did. I mean, he took the worst of it for Pete's sake!"

Kaldur answered in a thoughtful voice, "I fear that much of the League will not see it that way. Our mentors especially will only be able to see how much the team was injured."

Superboy looked away at this.

"All we can do for Robin is to wait here until he wakes up and be there for him."

"Yeah, and hope Batman can cover for him."

* * *

**Meanwhile on the Watchtower:**

A meeting of heroes was sitting at the League's table. Everyone was involved in a small conversation with someone else, all discussing the subject the meeting was about.

Then Superman, at the head of the table, spoke up. "Alright, settle down, the meeting is about to start. Is everyone present?"

"Aye!"

"Good, then I officially call this meeting of the Justice League to order. The first item on our agenda is a discussion on how we should allocate our-"

He was interrupted by Hawkman who said rather brashly, "Superman, I think that we all know that all of our minds are on one thing and one thing only. We should deal with that first."

Superman looked around, then, seeing that everyone appeared to agree, he sighed and said, "Fine, the item for discussion then is: Robin's method of leading of the Young Justice."

"Method!" the Flash cried indignantly. "The kid's insane; Wally's got a fractured arm!"

There were murmurs of agreement.

It was Martian Manhunter who spoke next. "I feel you are being unfair Flash, while some of Robin's choices may have resulted in injury, they still have been primarily good in nature."

Green Arrow narrowed his eyes. "I don't know that kid seems weirder every time I look closer at the team. For instance; what about his recruits some of them aren't even kids!"

Hal Jordan of the Green Lanterns spoke next. "Stewart and I also question the recruitment of Guy Gardner. He's hyperactive and is a bit of a blowhard." Stewart nodded in agreement wondering what the Boy Wonder had been thinking.

Manhunter spoke up again. "However his combat abilities proved most useful in the battle against the villainess known as Poison Ivy specifically."

Aquaman turned to look at Batman, who hadn't spoken yet. "I am very doubtful of Robin's ability to directly lead the team. Many on his team were injured in the final battle. Those that were not were only saved by their powers such as Superboy, being the so-, being of Kyptonian descent. Kaldur however, sustained several bullet wounds and he is one of the one's with the least amount of injuries. The others have varying degrees of injuries."

Everyone looked at Batman with varying emotions showing on their faces, some curiosity, and others accusatorily. When Batman finally spoke it left no doubt in their minds that he meant every word of what he said.

"You all have nothing to complain about; nothing at all. If anyone here has anything to complain about, it's me. Robin is lying in a bed, beaten half to death while forced to watch Gotham burn and simultaneously watch his worst nightmares come true. You all have nothing to say that could even remotely make me question that Robin has the welfare of the team well in hand."

A silence greeted this statement. There was a chill in the air as everyone felt the cold anger behind the Dark Knight's words.

The Flash broke the silence eventually. "Still Batman, what are we supposed to think, what with all the injuries?"

"If the League had been the one handling this, do you think we would've come out of it unscathed? Perhaps less injured, but the fact remains that the Young Justice were the only ones organized and large enough for this situation. The League was indisposed and unaware of the situation until we got back."

"But the fact remains," put in Wonder Woman, "That some of us are questioning the wisdom of the Young Justice idea in favor of a more personal and controlled approach."

Her face took on a more accusing look. "I think it also fair to mention that most of us are also questioning how healthy it is for Robin to be your apprentice."

There were sounds of indignation around the table, plenty of the members had had similar thoughts, but none of them had actually wanted to have them voiced to the Dark Knight.

Wonder Woman looked around at the annoyed faces. "I see no reason why we should hide this; he already knows we are losing faith in Robin's ability to lead. You yourself have said that he has the worst injuries of all; you defend his actions that have caused great injury and let great harm happen. What you conveniently skirt around is that Robin is no more than 13 years old. And yet he leads the team through a myriad of situations that would cause any adult a supreme amount of anguish. What he is trying to be is not healthy for him."

Batman narrowed his eyes, showing that he did not take kindly to Wonder Woman's assumptions. "Robin needed to bring the men who murdered his parents to justice; else he would never be able to live with himself."

"Why, so he could turn out like you?!"

Batman's face turned somber, perhaps even sad as he spoke again, "so that he wouldn't."

Shock at Batman having shown his emotions, (other than anger and rage), so freely permeated the room. Then Superman shook his head, "we've strayed from the original subject."

He brought up an image of each sidekick. "Some of us have been discussing abolishing the Young Justice team. Each sidekick will be assigned to their mentor for more personal and safe training."

Green Arrow broke in. "What about the young members that don't have mentors?"

"They'll be assigned to one of us with the most similar powers. Meanwhile, on the topic of age and Young Justice members, we need to discuss one of Robin's recruits."

A picture of Red Star appeared and some of the League member's faces darkened.

"This man, Leonid Kovar, was a test subject in an old Soviet experiment to try and create "the perfect soldier." He was declared a failure and dumped by his government after his powers went out of control. He was recently discovered by Robin and, in an incident in which his powers where brought under his control, was recruited to the Young Justice."

Batman spoke up again, "I know I was with Robin on that mission."

"Then you should know that some of us have reservations in inviting him in."

"He and his former general have expressed disgust over their government and have no wish to be a part of it anymore."

"That is if they're being genuine."

Batman sighed. "They had been left in a backwater section of their country. Their city was in shambles and they received absolutely no aid to repair it. That should be proof enough."

The debate went on for several hours, with several people going back and forth, some defending Robin's methods, others attacking them.

But eventually, after much arguing, a compromise was reached.

"All main members of Young Justice will receive a new training regimen, designed to improve their combat capability. The training regimen for the core members will be penned by the mentor of the team member. The team however, will still be headed by Batman, and led by Robin in the field. Does everyone find this compromise agreeable for the time being?"

A unanimous "yes" was heard.

"Then I declare this meeting adjourned, we are all dismissed."

A great scraping of chairs was heard and nearly everyone got up to go leave. Batman immediately made for the Zeta Tubes, noticing, but not acknowledging, the looks that everyone was giving him. They ranged from pitying, for the entire flake he and his protégé were getting, (this was mostly given by J'Onn), and angry for insisting Robin stay in charge.

The second stares he didn't really care about. In his mind, Robin deserved praise, not condemnation. The mentors were speaking from their feelings of anger at their sidekicks' getting hurt.

Batman entered the Zeta Tube and headed back to the Batcave, where he knew several of the Young Justice members waited there, watching over Robin while he was gone.

* * *

_**Two night ago in Gotham:**_

Plant bits flew everywhere, limbs that had been hacked or gnawed off littered the ground as the three team members made their slow way towards Poison Ivy.

Ivy screamed in frustration as her plants were torn to shreds time and time again. She held up her hands and concentrated even harder, trying to kill the people she saw as invading her own personal little jungle.

A little ways away, three figures fought the forest. Vines snaked their way towards them, only to be met by a blast of red given off by Red Star. Looking up he called to Ivy, "Madam, surrender yourself to us! I do not wish you harm but you cannot be allowed to abuse the park in this manner!"

Ivy just growled and sent more foliage after them.

Then a revving noise was heard and they all looked over at Guy Gardner. Two enormously oversized chainsaws had been conjured up by his ring and he was revving them in anticipation of the coming slaughter.

Screams of frustration were heard by any within earshot of the park, as well as what sounded like copious amounts of lumber work.

Skip took a flying leap, trying to reach Poison Ivy. But a vine caught him halfway there and threw him in the opposite direction. He coughed as he got back up and spat out some dirt that he had somehow gotten in his mouth upon crashing into the ground.

_"This is a bit of a disaster. I need to move quickly and make us feel the aster."_

He charged, moving as fast, and as agilely as he could. What looked like a small bush with legs and arms rose up and stood in his path. On instinct, Skip whipped his hands forward and to his amazement, small spines flew out of them. They slammed into his opponent and it toppled, falling off the elevated vine they were on.

Red Star landed beside Skip, blasting away attacking roots and vines that sought to grab a hold of them.

"You fight with much abandon comrade!" He noted.

"_I've been away from the team for awhile. I don't want them to think I'm just a tag-along. I need to get back in the game."_

"I'd say you are doing a good job of that."

Both charged, blasting and cutting anything that went after them, out of their way. They landed just one platform below Ivy who smirked.

"I have thousands of plants just ready and wait to tear you two apa-" she paused in confusion, then said in an nervous voice. "Wait, where's the other one?!"

Then she heard the sound of chainsaws behind her and she whipped her head around to see that her "thousands of plants" had been reduced to a diced up mess littering the ground.

Guy Gardner grinned. "That's how we do it on Oa."

Ivy screamed in frustration as the green chainsaws on Gardner's arms, reformed to be a giant punching glove that shot forward.

Ivy was unconscious before she hit the ground.

* * *

In the hospital the standoff between the heroes and the Joker was still going on. Joker still held the knife to Raven's throat and everyone else still stood stock still. Then their attention was diverted as gun shots sounded off and the criminals outside gave yells of surprise as they noticed policemen moving through the streets towards them very quickly.

Nobody noticed as Raven moved, but the Joker did notice when he was telekinetically lifted and thrown against the wall. Raven stumbled back to the others, keeping her eyes on the mad clown as he stood up, drawing another knife as he did. He moved towards the hole in the wall he'd made, all the while keeping his eyes on the heroes. He held his knives forward, making it clear that he'd fight to kill anyone who rushed him.

Then, another person loomed up behind the Joker through the whole in the wall. The Joker was suddenly tackled from behind as another person came on the scene to help.

Kyle held on as best he could while hooking one end of a handcuff onto the Joker's right wrist.

The Joker however, would not be so easy to capture. He jerked and yelled, managing to twist around. He attacked Kyle with an almost animalistic ferocity.

"How dare you touch me you worm! I am the Crown Prince of Crime. I AM THE JOKER!"

"So what . . . I'm a . . . Sherrif . . . least I'm not a . . . rodeo clown" Kyle gasped out.

The Joker just growled in rage and attacked even more ferociously. Both men rolled over and over, Kyle barely managing to stop the Joker from disemboweling him. Finally, at the rolled by a door, Kyle managed to fasten the other end of the handcuff to the door.

He rolled away and stood up, breathing heavily. Then he turned to the others, who were staring at him incredulously for just having beaten the Joker of all people.

Kyle exhaled heavily not quite sure what to do. "Well . . . care to help? We need to secure the perimeter."

The Police were advancing along the streets and alleyways, rooting out anyone in their way. But the real battle was in the hospital. While the fight with the Joker had been going on, the crooks had been busy storming the other entrances and levels of the building.

The defenders were having a tough time rousting them back out due to numerous barricades they themselves had set up not long before. The heroes joined the defenders, but were dissuaded from charging by the sheer amount of bullets that heralded their arrival. But then they heard a loud shout of "BOOYAH!" and something green was flung behind their lines

Some of the crooks looked at it curiously, not recognizing it due to its green texture, then its tail flared up in a threatening position and with a thrill of horror, they recognized it. But it was too late; a blast of stink erupted from the green skunk and covered them all.

The men coughed and cried out as a truly rank smell assaulted their senses; they stumbled around in agony as their nostrils burned. None of them were even remotely predisposed to fight as the defenders came charging down at them.

As they knocked all the criminals out Cyborg took a good sniff of the air and blanched "yo BB, why'd you have to choose something that smelled so bad?!"

Beast Boy was busy using a gorilla morph to plow through crooks so he couldn't respond.

Cyborg grinned "well, I guess it smells so close to what you normally smell like that you feel right at home doing that."

That got Beast Boy's attention and he turned around while reverting to human form.

"Dude, not cool!"

"Why not, I've seen the way you clean your room."

"What's "clean your room" supposed to mean?"

Blue Beetle landed beside them. He answered Beast Boy and they could almost hear a tragic violin playing in the background. "It's a terrible thing Beast Boy, one of the many evils that scar so many children at a young age. Be thankful you have not been afflicted with it yet!"

Cyborg nodded, a small tear forming at the corner of his human eye "I remember the first time I had to do it. It was h-horrible. I had to pick up sock after sock after sock with no break. And then came the bed, oh the horrible making of the bed!"

Raven, who was hovering above everyone else, rolled her eyes "if I do join this team, I hope that I won't be assigned to work with you three."

The rest of the fight was over quickly, the crooks who still could, retreated back into their territory where they were gathered in force. The Police dared not push farther in case they were heading into a trap. But everyone felt rather pleased at their progress.

Cyborg, after he was sure all was well, called Robin on his communicator.

"Robin, we're all good over here, got any more orders for us?"

"_Meet back at the planning table, boy do I have a plan for all of us."_

"See you there."

It was only a little while later, that it was discovered that the Joker was nowhere to be found. All that was left was some handcuffs hooked on a door.

* * *

It was twilight, dawn was coming soon. Fighting ceased as everyone drew back to nurse their wounds. Another gathering however, was held around the strategy table.

The team once more gathered around the map of Gotham that was still being used to chart the conflict. Gordon, Kyle, and several other high ranking officers were there as well. They all waited for Robin to speak.

"All right, we succeeded in taking back a good deal of territory from the crooks, but they still control about a 4th of Gotham. To root them out, building to building, would be almost impossible, not to mention would take an extreme amount of time that we don't really want to give them. Thus, I've come up with a plan to end this all in one stroke."

"Is that even possible?" Commissioner Gordon asked.

Robin nodded, "last night, I received a tip off from a reliable source that all the crooks and rogues gallery will be gathering at Gotham City Stadium. Whoever organized all this is going to give a speech. About what, I don't know, nevertheless, this presents us with an opportunity to end this all at once with minimal loss of life."

"If I may inquire comrade, from whom did you receive this tip?"

Robin considered the question, then said "I don't think that matters right now. I trust the source to be honest so that'll have to do for you all for now."

He turned back to Gordon and pointed at the map. "I'll need all the cops for this, or at least as many as can be spared. Most, if not all, of the criminals should be inside the stadium so don't have much to be afraid of outside the city during this attack."

Turning fully back to the map, he began explaining his plan…

* * *

They were all ordered to rest for the next day so that they would be at their peak when the battle came. But Megan had some unfinished business in the jailhouse.

* * *

Two Face stared at Megan impassively. She took a deep breath and reached out with a mental probe. She immediately encountered the fiery, angry personality that was Two-Face. She dug around, ignoring the man's struggling against the straitjacket that held him in place.

She moved over various personality traits, trying to find an opening to the thing she'd felt when she'd looked at the man earlier. Then she encountered his coin-toss habit and felt a crack.

Envisioning her mental self to be like water, she squeezed into the crack and moved past the outer walls of anger and evil that comprised the personality of Two-Face. Now fully engaged in the mind-probe, it seemed to Megan as though she was walking into a lighted room. It was a furnished room and looked like an office, complete with desk.

Sitting at the desk was a man with brown hair. Upon hearing Megan enter, he turned quick as lightning and his face registered extreme shock. Now that Megan could see his face, she saw that he looked like a complete version of the unscarred side of Two-Face's face. She also noticed that around his neck was wrapped a long chain connect to the ceiling.

Recovering from his surprise, the man stood up and held out a hand.

"Good evening, my name's Harvey Dent, what's yours?"

Megan shook his hand automatically, still not quite believing what she was seeing. Dent however, crossed the room and began rummaging around in a cabinet.

"Do you prefer Coffee, or Hot Cocoa?"

Giving herself a slight shake, Megan answered, "Cocoa."

As Harvey prepared the drink he hummed to himself. Megan surveyed the room, and then asked, "What is this place?"

"This quaint little room, this is the small portion of my mind that Two Face forced me into when he got the notion of running things himself."

Megan accepted the Cocoa. Harvey gestured over to an extra seat, they both sat down.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, are you related to the Martian Manhunter?"

"How did you know who he is?"

"I'm privy to everything that Two Face does, if he does it, I know it."

Megan frowned confused by this information, "then why haven't you done anything, Two Face almost killed some people last night! How can you let him roam free?!"

Harvey didn't get angry at her outburst; on the contrary he appeared to shrink in his chair. He allowed his expression to sink as well until he looked like a man twice his age. Lines of exhaustion, fear, and sorrow marred his handsome features.

"I tried . . . believe me I tried."

He looked at her with curiosity.

"Do you know my story?"

"Uh, well I, mostly I just, well you know-"

"Viewed me as another member of the Rogue's gallery" he sighed "I understand."

"But I would like to hear it if you'd like!"

Harvey took a sip of his coffee, and then gathered himself as he began his story.

"My mom died giving birth to me. I think that made my dad resent me. He never loved me, at least I think so. He never gave me a break. At school, kids used to pick on me, they called me Harvey "Two Face" Dent. One day, at recess, they came after me and I finally snapped. By the time I was done with them, they all had broken and bloody noses and were out cold on the pavement."

Megan sniffed emphatically, she remembered that she'd been treated just like that back on Mars. "They sound like they deserved it, they were bad guys."

Harvey looked slightly angered at her uncharacteristic callousness.

"That doesn't matter, I may have been the victim up until then, but I became a monster when I attacked them and beat on them. Even when they were begging me to stop I wouldn't. I felt like their blood couldn't be washed of my hands. But anyway, back to the story."

"The principal called me in and gave me detention for the rest of the school year. But when I got home, my dad . . . my dad . . . beat me."

"Why?!"

"Said he was teaching me a lesson about violence. A lesson he drove home every night after that. He would take a coin, scar one of its sides and flip it while saying "Let's decide if you get a beating, heads you get one, tails I can't restrain myself." Well it worked, because I never ever fought after that until the incident."

"What incident?" asked Megan, slightly dreading the answer.

Harvey sighed once again.

"I became the district attorney of Gotham, youngest ever to be exact. I never physically fought, but I wanted to help people and bring criminals to justice. So I went after the mob. With Gordon's and Batman's help, we put some of the worst mobsters behind bars. But it all came crashing down at the trial of Maroni."

Harvey shuddered, as if the very memories themselves chilled him to the bone. Then, a door materialized on the other side of room and opened up to reveal a courtroom.

Megan looked at Dent as if to ask permission, he nodded while looking at the floor and Megan walked through the door.

The door swung shut behind Megan and she surveyed the room. It was full to the brim; obviously a trial was in session, at the tail end most likely. In the witness box sat a man whom Megan guessed to be Maroni.

The spokesperson was just finishing his speech. Sitting in the accuser's desk was Harvey Dent, very handsome without a scar to be seen on his face.

"_This court finds Maroni guilty as charged and hereby sentence him to 20 year in prison."_

Maroni, who was still in the witness box, gave an almost imperceptible nod. The Assistant District Attorney stood up and walked in front of Dent. Then he drew out of vial of what looked like sulfuric acid and, too quickly for anyone to do anything, tossed it right into the left side of his face.

The attacker was quickly grabbed while people tried to assist Dent, but he merely collapsed to a quivering, jerking wreck on the floor while screaming at the top of his lungs.

The memory ended and Megan found herself back in the office with Dent. Dent looked as if he was going to pass out.

"Please . . . don't make me relive another memory!"

Megan walked around the desk and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. He grabbed it like a lifeline. After a few minutes, he finally calmed down.

"After that . . . well everyone knows what that side of my face looks like now. I was confined to a hospital, strapped down. All my fears, all my failures, and all the abuse I'd ever faced came down on me in one fell swoop, and it all coalesced into a monster that was everything I feared and hated.

He didn't speak for so long that Megan finally said "Two Face?"

". . . Two Face . . . He led a hostile takeover. I tried to fight him." He turned to Megan and grabbed her arms in a strong grip, his eyes boring into her, imploring her to believe him.

"I tried, I tried but he was too strong. I was banished away to this little part of my mind and forced to watch as he broke free and went on to destroy my life. I still tried to help in some way. I looked at what might work with him, studied the trauma's that he'd come out of."

"That coin that he uses, that was my idea. I needed to give Batman any edge I could. He liked it because it related to my good ol pops."

Megan patted him on the arm "it sounds like you've done a good job."

Harvey's face morphed into an extremely sorrowful look "no, no I'll never be able to atone for all this. You don't understand. Two Face, he is **me**! Everything he does, it all comes from me! He was born out of me being too weak to control myself! I'm worse than the Joker! I should've done better, but instead I allowed this monster that's part of me walk the streets killing half the people he meets!"

Tears where running down his face as he leaned forward. Then to his astonishment, Megan gave him a hug. He sobbed himself out on her shoulder for a good 10 minutes.

When he finally had enough self control back to speak he began with an apology "I'm sorry for dumping all this on you. You're just the first person I've had to talk to in years."

"I don't mind. I know what it's like to have secrets you can't tell anyone."

Finally when she drew back she faced him with a small frown on her face.  
"But I think you're wrong in the way your trying to solve this."

"How do you mean."

"Two Face, you said you failed to keep him in control right. But it sounds to me that he's just an extension of the part of us we'd all like to keep hidden."

"What's your point?"

"My point is that, we can't just try and suppress everything we think is bad about us. We can't just try and ignore it. We have to accept we have a darker side, accept that bad things have happened to us, but that we have to grow from them, not just ignore them."

"So, you're saying that Two Face is just a natural part of me that I should accept."

"No, it sounds like Two Face grew out of you're complete refusal to acknowledge all the hurt you went through as a kid."

Megan looked down, as if she was scared to admit what she was about to say and do.

"In fact, this isn't what I normally look like."

She grew, and grew as her skin turned white and her form extended to resemble something that was in no way of this Earth and was in no way attractive.

"This is . . . what I normally look like."

Harvey, getting over his initial slack-jawed shock, shook himself. "Do your friends know?"

". . . no, I love it here and I don't want them to send me away!"

Harvy shook his head and took her hand, large as it was "I really don't think they'll care."

"I can't take that chance."

Harvey looked away, as if pondering what she'd said. The he smirked "heh, I guess we both have our little secrets that we'd like to forget about."

They both sat there, simply talking for a long while after that. Until finally Megan realized that she had to leave to get some rest for the mission the next night.

Harvey saw her off out of his room "take care please. If you have to, please never go near me again, you're my first friend in a long while and I never want to see you hurt."

"Don't worry; I'll come visit you soon!"

With that, she left, withdrawing from his mind. Harvey sighed ruefully, and then went to get some more coffee. As he got some more coffee he heard the door open up again, she must've come back.

"I thought you had to get some sleep Megan?"

A deep, rasping voice that made him stiffen spoke next "precious Megan's not here, but you can be sure I intend to meet her face to Two Face!"

Harvey whirled around to see his worst nightmare, Two Face, standing in front of him. Just as Harvey was a full version of the unscarred portion of his face, Two Face was just as pitted, pockmarked, and ugly as the scarred side, except fully so.

"I see you never invited me to meet our little visitor. Did you really think I wasn't aware she was here? No matter, she is a problem that must be taken care of, soon."

Harvey's eyes widened in fear "no, please! Don't hurt her!"

Two Face smirked while shaking his head "poor poor little baby Harvey. Still so not accepting of the way things are run around here. I'll do whatever I want, all according to the coin of course."

Though nobody could hear him inside his own mind, Harvey Dent moaned.

* * *

**_The next night_**

Nearly all the criminals were gathered in the stands of the stadium. Sentries were posted to watch the entrances. Most sat with their respective mob, though everyone seemed to want to sit as far away from the Rogues Gallery Villains as possible.

Then everyone hushed as a man walked out onto the makeshift stage in the middle of the football field. The man was in a combat uniform and had a mask on that concealed his face. It had only one eyehole on the side of the mask that was painted gold. Deathstoke the Terminator, once feared mercenary, now even more feared criminal mastermind.

Behind him strode a short plump man who was dressed in a fancy pinstripe suit with a bowler hat. Also behind the man was another man in a white business suit. This man's most defining feature was a black mask that completely covered his head, making it seem more like a skull than a mask.

"Welcome to this meeting. I assume you've all had a nice little romp around Gotham?"

Cheers greeted this question. Apparently, despite the police setbacks, the mobsters had had quite a time.

"Well, my two partners and I who were responsible for your, liberation, have a proposition for you all. One that I'm sure you will all enjoy."

Everyone leaned forward, eager to hear the proposition.

"A time is soon coming where those who call themselves the authority of this country, will be plunged into chaos. It will be impossible to miss. At that time you must cause as much trouble as possible."

Everyone digested that request. Then a lone mobster shouted "what's in it for us?"

Deathstroke seemed to smile, even though nobody could physically see it.

"After the smoke clears, you all will be given Gotham and the surrounding land to do with as you please. You will be left alone to run things the way you wish. Also, the heroes will be guaranteed to have been taken care of and kept out of your business."

One could almost hear the saliva dripping from the mob bosses mouths. A Gotham with no police, free pickings for them all with no pesky interference by the Batman or anyone else. A Mobster could faint at the thought.

"As I said, you will be unable to miss this event. Rest assured, it will happen. As for right now, do as you wish. Continue to try and hold onto Gotham if you wish, or simply fade away into the shadows. Just be ready when the time comes."

The mobsters were discussing what to do with this information. But then, something happened that disturbed all of their talk to a very great degree. Out of nowhere, several canisters fell among the large crowd of criminals. The canisters immediately began emitting what they found out was tear gas.

As all the crooks milled around, trying to keep away from the clouds of gas that made their eyes tear up, a thunderous roar was heard and all of the entrances and exits where flung open. Cops and heroes poured in, the heroes having snuck in through the sewers and knocked out all the sentries, allowing the cops to come in undetected.

Battle was joined. Crooks tried to find a way of escape, only to find their way constantly barred by a cop or two. The heroes however, took off straight for the rogues gallery, not wanting them to sow wanton destruction within the ranks of the police.

* * *

_Don't worry, like I said, the last part of this story arc is almost entirely written out. Once again I'm sorry for being such a lazy slob and providing such atrocious update gaps._

* * *

_Mailbox Time:_

Umbra8191

great chapter i can't wait for the next update.

**_Well, here it is. Hope you like it, sorry it took so long._**

KaliAnn

Welcome back my friend. This chapter was worth the wait. I really did enjoy the back story and explanations because it helps define the motivation for Robin. The team scenes were very well written and I think they're starting to pull together, just need to give Raven a chance to escape and send the Joker packing. I like the manner in which Ras revealed what he knew and that he's honorable enough not to use it against him. I hope the next chapter is just as fantastic.

**_Once again, thank you for all the help you gave by betaing this story arc. You truly are an awesome reviewer who is always willing to offer a kind word and advice._**

Touch of the Wind

Fantastic update- I like that Robin mirrored the scene from the first Nolan Batman film- I could see Robin doing that. This Robin has understood the power of fear- especially with his concept behind the RedX suit. I would also consider Robin creating the suit again- maybe for an older young hero who need a persona...

I really can't wait to see the League's reactions- maybe at first they come back to the Watchtower they all plan to shower, eat, and rest before heading back home and decide to check the system- and see News footage about young heroes in Gotham fighting the villans- it would be great to see lots of POVs.

**_Why thank you, that was what I was aiming for. Hmmm, ideas sprout up like little flowers. Thanks for the food for thought concerning the Red X suit. The League's reactions are for next chapter._**

Riqis Inna Sunja

Is it slade? its slade isnt it? its gotta be! having more than one reason to come to gotham, realease the crazies and see robin! ...right? i think your doing great handeling all the different characters! i love how even when joker holds a knife to her throat raven stays in her monotone :D i cant wait for the next chapter!

**_No, it's Deathstroke! lol jk you're right it's Slade. _**

Dreams2Paper11

My dad is a pastor and naturally, I am a Christian. I must say, I highly appreciate all the Christian themes slipped into the story.

The story itself is amazing. Please update quickly!

**_Thanks for your compliments. Yes I am a Christian as my name and icon clearly state. I'm always happy to meet another brother/sister in Christ. I hope you enjoy this._**

Hexalys

Yes, your back! I loved the chapter! Robin's flashback was a real treat and I love how you described his drive. Ghul was an excellent touch and I can easily belieive that the man was able to see the differences in the "new" Robin. Please updatte soon!

Hexalys

**_Thanks. Ghul always struck me as the most honorable of Batman's enemies. Both men know why they do what they do. While they don't agree, they respect each other._**

**_By the way, I still love Young Justice: Red X. It makes me happy to see I inspired something that could very well be superior to my own work. _**

wonderfulakari

Ha ha don't feel bad about your hiatus! I've been on one too, this is what happens when you try to follow the YJ plot line exactly. March 3rd feels so far away.

**_Uh, it's kinda hard for me not to feel bad about this hiatus, lol. Especially since it's about twice as long as the last one._**

**_Well, Young Justice is moving along quite well, I still love it. _**

Toaneo07 Ver2.0

its cso cool

**_Thanks a lot._**

knightmare1986

Great chapter! Loved the memory of Robin when he was younger and just starting his training. Batman was always a control freak and a damn perfectionist. Part of the reason everybody else has a hard time getting along with him. I would love to see Robin eventually form the Titans in this universe. He could form them into separate squads or teams spread out across the globe with him as overall team commander. Face it the League still views them as sidekicks despite how much they accomplish on their own. Hope you like my insights for this captivating story. Please update soon. Take care and enjoy life. :)

**_Yeah, I may just end up doing that later on. But not yet. The whole sidekick position complex really is a central part of Robin's character, he needs to prove that he's his own man and that he's not just some lame kidified knock off of Batman._**

G.

This story has become one of my favorates if you want i suggest a chapter in which they do the fake reality exercise like in the show only the teem faceing villans from their memory(villans they have fought before and of their choice) one at a time with robins choice being trigon the terrible

**_Thanks. I may do that someday. Thanks for the ideas, they help me with the story._**

MoonlightBushido

I am just now rereading this story and I must say that I am enjoying it. It would be nice to see some of what's going on in Robin's home dimension. :) Keep up the good work and I can't wait to see where this story will lead. I always did like the TT Robin, and I was also never fond of the Batgirl and Robin pairing, give me Robin and Starfire, all the way. Hell, I'll take Robin and Kid Flash before Robin and Batgirl, that's how much I really don't like the pairing, though Batgirl does have her uses, and I do love the Blue Beetle. :)

Sweetness, now I know Raven could easily terrify Joker if she wanted to, hell, she could break herself free easily, though I would love to see Starfire kick some ass in Gotham, she oculd rival Superman's strength, I think. :)

I can't wait for the next chapter, please keep up the insanely good work, and I'm willing to bet the mastermind is Slade. I would like to see Guy Gardner go completely Medevial on Poison Ivy's Botanical ass, it would so serve her right. :D

Kudos to Beast Boy for kicking Killer Croc's ass and making him retreat with his tail tucked between his legs. If Joker knew who Raven's Daddy was he wouldn't be so eager to keep her held hostage, even Joker has a sense of self-preservation under all of that insanity, I think. 8D

**_Thanks a lot. Sorry, I don't think Starfire will be showing up for the fight. Make no mistake, Robin loves Starfire. She's probably only second to crime-fighting in his heart. I hope I satisfied you. _**

**_I do wonder if the Joker just lives to annoy or challenge Batman, probably that what he starts planning as he brushes his teeth in the morning._**

robgray1

am enjoying your work as we go along . a couple of things that may help robin was 8 was when he was bought into dc comics in 1939 thats the reason for the short outfit at the time with no long pants . He was a crime victiom by the death of his parents and his training startrd before the age of four with his parents as a acrobate . see the first story back then . He was the first person that Bruce w Batman told who he was another great story and orignaltion of the dc years . He did take down the killers of his parence at the age of 8 with Batman help thought the 40, 50, 60 he worked with Batman and was his partner and also in the book w finst worked with Batman Superman and at the age of may be 11 or 12 became the leader of the leader of the T titians with aqua lead kid flash speedy I think and there first villin was mr tiwster in may be brave and bold He learned to build cars with Batman al of the trophires you see including giant penny and dinsaw he was involved in the cases . in the mordern version of the titians on tv he was about 14 to 15 and as good of a pro as I have seen for the over 75 years in dc and the first child partner out there

just remember Batgirl is at least 5 to 7 years older than Robin or Dick g and was never the athletic person the others year she was a libarion with ittle or no training in atletics and not a member of the titians or y justice or the league

**_Thanks for the info!_**

Eaglegirl09

I love your story keep up the good work. I don't know if anyone corrected you but Owlman, Superwoman and Ultraman aren't the evil version of Batman, Wonderwoman and Superman they are different people at least in the DC comics. Owlman is Tomas Wayne jr. the little brother of Bruce Wayne, Superwoman is Louis Lane and Ultraman isn't Kryptonian but an astronaut that got experemented on by aliens. Don't get mad I still love your story.

**_Technically I never said that they were the exact same people, I merely gave them thematic similarities to their counterparts in the Young Justice universe as is often done with mirror universes._**

**_I'm not mad, thanks for the review. I may come back to the alternate Earth later on._**


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